Super Papa
by newsiesgirllaces
Summary: Some one-shots containing Athena and Conner moments. This all takes place after the events of 'The Failed Project'
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! One-shots with Super Papa! Yeahhhh!**

**So, if anyone wants to see anything specific for Athena and Conner, shoot me either a PM or a message and tell me :)**

**Please enjoy and tell me what you think!**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Athena held Conner's hand tightly.

Bruce had told her that she was going to the Doctor's office, and the girl had never gone before. Therefore, Bruce thought that having Conner take her would be the best option in case something went wrong.

He would have gone himself if he didn't have a major meeting in Japan that required Bruce Wayne to attend for a week. No matter how much he wanted to, Bruce couldn't get out of it.

Athena was scheduled for just a regular physical, and due to Bruce's paranoia, he made sure that his good friend, Dr. Tompkins, would be the girl's doctor.

Bruce wanted to make sure Athena didn't start floating in fear and not be able to come down, so he knew he needed someone there to comfort her, and knowing how close she was with Superboy, he was Bruce's best choice.

"Hello Athena, I am Dr. Tompkins." The older woman smiled kindly at the girl. Dr. Tompkins wasn't a pediatrician, but when Bruce asked her to do something, she found he very hard to say no.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the best when it came to children.

"Hello." Athena said with a small smile, still holding Conner's hand.

"I understand this is your first check-up." The woman stated, and Athena nodded.

"Well, Athena, you have nothing to worry about. This is to make sure you are healthy." The woman smiled, beckoning Athena for a table to sit on.

"I am taking it you are Conner." The woman said, turning to the boy, as the little girl made her way to the table. Conner nodded, and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you." He stated. "Did Bruce tell you…"

"I know that she is different from most children." She nodded, then turned to Athena.

Athena wasn't that bad when Dr. Tompkins checked her blood pressure, and eyesight. Conner was glad, and prayed that the rest of the visit would go just as well.

Athena was completely fine until Dr. Tompkins said,

"I'll need you to lay down."

Athena was suddenly very scared when she was lying down on the padded table with the doctor with her cold gloves, running her fingers over her skin, examining her. It didn't get any better as Dr. Tompkins had the girl breath heavily with a cold piece of metal against her stomach.

Conner could hear Athena fast pumping heart, beating at a million miles per second. She didn't like being examined. She didn't like being touched with cold hands and medical instruments.

However, she had yet to ask Conner for any help, or comfort. She was actually very quiet, too scared to speak.

Conner was hoping that this was going to be the worst of the visit. He just prayed that her abilities wouldn't go off and he'd need to calm her down. It wasn't that he disliked having to calm her down, he just didn't like having her look so terrified.

However, when Dr. Tompkins said that she needed to give Athena a few vaccinations, the girl stiffened even more.

"Luckily, Bruce sent me over some needles to use that will pierce her skin." Dr. Tompkins informed to Conner, taking the lightly kryptonite tipped needles out of a box, and filling the first one up with the vaccination.

"C-Conner." Athena whispered when the woman started to walk towards her. "Conner!" she exclaimed frantically, on the verge of tears, and things in the room started to shake due to her telekinesis.

Dr. Tompkins froze in her step, and the teen quickly walked over to Athena and gently grasped her hand.

"Athena, it's okay." He said gently. Athena sounded like she was going to hyperventilate as she shook. "The vaccination is going to help protect against sickness. You don't want to get sick do, you?" Conner questioned in a calm voice.

"I-I don't want needles in m-my head!" she stuttered frantically. "Not again." She whispered, shaking her head. "Please not again." Small drops of tears rolled down her cheeks, and Conner gave her a small huge.

"Athena, the needles won't go in your head." Conner informed in a soothing voice. "They are just going to be in your arm for a few moments, then you're done. It will be very quick. Don't worry, we won't put needles in your head, Athena." he whispered.

Athena took in deep breaths, and squeezed Conner's hand tightly, sticking her other arm out for Dr. Tompkins.

Conner had the girl look away from her arm as Dr. Tompkins gave her the first injection.

Athena had a sharp intake of breath as the needle entered her arm, and her grip tightened even more on Conner's hand.

She felt two more pricks afterwards and she was waiting for more pain.

"There we go." Athena blinked her eyes open, and slowly looked over at her arm. She was shocked when she realized that there were no more needles in her arm. She got three injections and she didn't even feel the needles coming out.

"Th-that's it?" Athena stuttered, looking down at her arm wide-eyed. That wasn't nearly as painful as she expected. When she got the needles in her head the pain lasted for hours and even afterwards her head throbbed. What pain she felt from the injection Dr. Tompkins gave her was so inferior to her previous injections.

"That's it." Conner smiled, and Athena smiled back at him, then looked over at Dr. Tompkins.

"Thank you." She grinned.

"Not a problem." Dr. Tompkins smiled at the girl.

Conner helped Athena off of the table onto the ground as Dr. Tompkins gathered up her things to visit her next patient.

"Tell Bruce that I say hello, and to be safe." She told Conner in a tone that reminded him of a concerned mother. She then briskly walked out of the room.

"Sorry for over reacting." Athena whispered as the two left the building. Conner placed a hand on her shoulder, and said,

"It's alright Athena. I understand why you were afraid." He honestly didn't like thinking about what Athena went through when she was at Cadmus. It was a subject he tried to stay away from because of how cruelly the girl was treated. He didn't need to hear that.

"It's just… when I was at Cadmus…" she began, but Conner quickly cut her off.

"Hey, do you want to get some ice cream?" Conner questioned, and Athena's face instantly brightened.

"Can I have whipped cream on it?" she asked with excitement, and Conner chuckled.

Dick introduced the girl to whipped cream and it became her favorite food. She put it on _everything_ when she could. Alfred was very upset when he learned of this, and told Dick that he had "ruined her."

However, Conner wasn't going to say "no" to her having some whipped cream on her ice cream.

"Sure thing."

He was grateful that her first check-up wasn't too traumatic. He honestly was expecting to have to pull her down from the ceiling.

However, he shuttered at the thought of her first Dentist appointment.


	2. The Zoo

**Thank you to theshadowwithinyoursoul for the Zoo visit prompt. :) Enjoy! And tell me what you think!**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Athena giggled as she watched the otters flip around in the giant tank. One of them was floating calmly on its back while the others seemed to be little furry balls of energy.

Athena was also studying them. The way they swam, the way they looked, how they acted towards each other, and so on.

Conner didn't know that Athena would enjoy the Zoo as much as she was. He just thought it would be a fun activity for the girl since she liked animals. However, they had already been there for an hour and weren't even done yet. Athena took her animals _very_ seriously.

"Is something wrong?" Conner inquired when he noticed Athena staring at the floating Otter for a long period of time with her head tilted to the side.

"She's pregnant." Athena whispered, smiling slightly, and Conner looked over at the Otter that was floating.

"Pregnant?" he questioned, and the girl nodded knowingly.

"How do you know?" Conner inquired, and the girl just shrugged, then walked over to the next animal.

Conner really wished that he could fully understand what was going on in that head of hers, but some days he just gave up entirely.

And when it came to animals, that was something Conner could _never_ understand about the girl. Because while he thought animals were just interesting, Athena looked at them like they were the greatest things in the world.

"Conner, look how beautiful she is." Athena smiled, and the teen walked over to see that she was looking at a Tiger.

The Tiger's coat was a red orange mix with sharp black stripes going down its side, and its eyes were an olive green.

"Yeah, she sure is beautiful." Conner nodded. He honestly didn't understand how an animal could be called "beautiful." He understood that some colorful animals were "pretty" but he could never say beautiful. And the tiger? To him it was just some furry creature with stripes. It looked like every other tiger he ever saw.

However, Athena thought it was beautiful, so he'd agree with her.

"Thank you for taking me here." Athena smiled as she walked to the next enclosure, holding Conner's hand tightly.

"No problem Athena. which animal is your favorite?" he inquired, and the girl shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't really know yet. I like them all so far." She informed, then her face quickly brightened when she saw the elephants.

"Zitka's an elephant." She informed happily while looking at the creatures.

"Who's Zitka?" Conner inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Zitka's an Elephant that Nii-san knows." She said as she continued to watch the animals walk around and pick up food with their trunks.

Conner honestly wasn't surprised at the fact that Dick apparently knew an Elephant. The guy sure was strange.

Athena watched as one of the elephants were trying to reach a pile of food that was too high up for its trunk to reach. Athena closed her eyes, and the food inched closer to the Elephant's trunk, and it happily took the food.

"Athena." Conner said in a warning tone, and the girl looked at him innocently.

"What?" she questioned, and Conner let it go. The zoo wasn't that busy anyway, and he could always chalk up the food moving due to the wind.

Athena then led Conner into the bird cage, where people could walk around among the birds. It sounded fun.

~*~*~*~*~*~Five Minutes Later~*~*~*~*~*~

"I don't like birds." Athena informed in a stiff voice.

"They just landed on you. They weren't going to hurt you." Conner informed calmly as the two continued to walk.

"I don't like birds." The girl repeated adamantly.

Athena might have not liked the birds, but the birds _loved _her. Flocks of them were landing on her, which Athena found not to her liking.

Conner was grateful that she didn't freak out and that her powers didn't go off. However, he could tell she didn't like the feeling of the claws on her skin, even if her skin was impervious.

"So, where to next?" he inquired, but he really wished he didn't ask.

"The Primate section." Was the girl's response.

They were headed for the monkey part of the Zoo, and while Athena hated birds, Conner felt the exact same way about monkeys.

However, he swallowed his hatred for the creatures and followed Athena to each exhibit. The girl smiled as she looked at each type of monkey big or small. She then stopped at the Gorillas where one was lazily sitting against the window.

Athena cocked her head to the side, looking at it, and it followed in suit, tilting it's head. Athena then tilted her head to the other side, and it copied her again.

"You have a funny sense of humor." The girl giggled, talking to the animal as if it understood her. She then turned to look at Conner.

"He's funny." She smiled.

"Hilarious." Conner nodded dryly, not enjoying being surrounded by moneys, regardless if there was a layer of glass separating them.

To Conner's relief, they exited the monkey area and came up to a Wolf habitat.

"Hey, they're like Wolf, but smaller." The girl grinned, and Conner nodded. He enjoyed dogs much better than the apes.

Athena's eyes then locked on one enclosure and she ran to it. Conner quickly followed her and he saw why she was so excited.

"Bears." Athena whispered, looking at the black bear swimming in the small pool the zoo offered. "Look at them. They're like Ralph." She grinned.

Conner didn't see the resemblance to the giant furry creatures that could eat a person alive and the girl's run down stuffed toy at all.

But Athena seemed fascinated by the way the bears moved and the little grunting noises they made.

"Hey, Conner?" the girl questioned, and the teen looked down at her.

"Yeah, Athena?"

"I know what my favorite animal is." She smiled as she watched the bears play around in the water, and Conner chuckled.

"You like bears, huh?" he questioned, and Athena nodded.

"I like bears. Otters are my second favorite though." She nodded, and Conner smirked.

"I think you might hurt Batman's feelings if you told him that. What ever happened to bats?" he inquired and the girl shrugged.

"I see bats all the time. They live in the cave." She giggled, and Conner placed the girl on his shoulders so she could get a better view of the bears.

"So why do you like bears so much? Is it because they remind you of Ralph?" he inquired, and the girl shrugged.

"A little. But they're just fun creatures. They love each other, and protect each other. They like to sleep during the winter. And you don't try to mess with them. People know that they are creatures to reckon with and are not to be taken lightly." She smiled. "Bears are strong."

Conner nodded at the girl's answer, then questioned,

"Why do you like otters?" Athena grinned, and her face softened thinking about them.

"They're really cute."


	3. Turtle

**Sorry that this one is a bit shorter. Shan123 asked for Athena and a pet. I know it was brief but at the end of 'The Failed Project' Aquaman gave Athena a turtle with three legs as his gift. So this chapter is about the turtle and Athena and of course, Conner.**

**Anyway, this Chapter is for Shan123 :)**

**Also, anyone who knows where the song that is stuck in Conner's head comes from gets intense praising and cyber cookies and happiness!**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

"I think she likes being outside." Athena informed as she let her turtle that Aquaman gave her slowly walk around. However, it's movements were slower than other turtles due to its missing leg.

In her hand, Athena had some berries that she knew the turtle enjoyed.

"How many times have you had her out?" Conner questioned, and the girl shrugged.

"few times, but I've been meaning to get her out more. She loves the sun, just like me, so I want to make sure she gets outside enough." The girl explained.

"What her name?" Conner inquired as the turtle limped around. He felt bad for the creatures disability, but Athena didn't care that it only had three legs. She still loved it.

"I don't really know yet. I mean… I was thinking, but I haven't really come to one that I really like yet." She informed with a sigh. Conner raised an eyebrow.

"Well, what have you been calling her so far?" he questioned.

"She or her, depending on what fits." Athena informed. "I'm only really good at coming up with Boy names, but she's a girl, so I can't give her a boy name. that would offend her."

"You're worried about offending a turtle?" Conner questioned, and the girl nodded her head like it was obvious.

"Of course. I don't want her to be upset. She has a very fragile ego." Conner thought for a moment, then questioned,

"How about Berry? You know, because she likes eating berries." Athena sighed and shook her head.

"It reminds me too much of Barry Manilow." She informed, scrunching her nose at the name.

"The singer? You don't like Barry Manilow?" Conner inquired in surprise. He thought Athena loved all music. The girl groaned.

"I wouldn't mind him much if Nii-san didn't sing _Copa Cabana_ all the time." Conner nodded.

"Understood." Conner knew what it was like to hear a song constantly. Like that one annoying pop song that was always in his head.

_fell in love again_

_ what am I gonna tell my friends_

_ it just happened_

_ you_ _walked in my door_

_ now I don't wanna be alone no more_

_ oops, I done it_

_ told you how I feel_

_ just hope this time that our love is real…_

_ NO! Get out song! Get out of my head! _Conner thought in frustration. God, he hated that song.

"What about Elvis?" Conner questioned, and Athena gave him a pointed look.

"That's a boys name. Don't insult her, she's very feminine." She stated, patting the turtles shell lightly as if to comfort her.

"Alright, sorry." Conner sighed, the suggested, "Turtlett?" Athena scrunched up her nose, and Conner chuckled.

"Yeah, alright, that does sound stupid."

"How about an artist, like Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, or Raphael?" he questioned, and Athena glared at him.

"Again, those are all boy names. Do you really want her to feel like she is not feminine enough. Girls take great offense to that, and I don't want her to be aggressive or depressed." She stated firmly, and Conner raised his hands in defense.

"Alright, I'm sorry." he said quickly.

He paused to think for a moment, trying to figure out a good _girl_ name for the turtle, and then his face brightened.

"Athena, how much do you know about Roman mythology?" he inquired, and the girl shrugged.

"Not much. Why?"

"Well, apparently some of the Greek Gods were changed into Roman Gods, where they kept their characteristics, but their names changed." He informed, and the girl raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

"So we could name her one of the Roman Gods names?" she inquired and Conner nodded.

"And Minerva is the Roman name for Athena." he informed.

"Minerva." She repeated, as if she was tasting the name. She then looked down at her turtle.

"Do you like the name Minerva?" she questioned and the turtle simply ate a berry from off the ground.

Athena looked up at Conner with a smile on her face.

"She likes Minerva." She informed happily, then looked at her turtle with excitement. "You have a name, Minerva! Now Alfred can stop calling you 'that vulgar excrement dispensing creature.' I think it was a mouthful for him."

Conner chuckled at that and Athena fed Minerva another berry.

He never thought that naming a turtle could actually be fun.


	4. Nightmare

**I was in an angsty-fluffy mood so have some angst and fluff! **

**Also, Obiwan1022 gets many cookies and love and happiness, and hugs because she/he got the question right! **

**Question sung the song in Justice League Unlimited (a huge part of my childhood) Seriously, everyone should go onto youtube, type in Question singing and listen to the awesomeness/ridiculousness of the song! :D**

**Please enjoy and tell me what you think :)**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

**P.S. Also, if you have any prompts for me, can they please take place around Athena's age right now, because i plan for the sequel to be set in the future when she's a teen :) Thank you :)**

**~*~*~*~*~*~Here be story with fluff and angst~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

Conner wished he could say that he wasn't used to hearing Athena crying in her dreams. He wished that he could say that he never heard the girl scream in terror in her sleep, causing her to wake up. He wished he could say that the worst nightmare Athena ever had was that there was a monster under her bed.

Conner wished he could say all those things, but he couldn't. Athena's nightmares were always vivid and intense, and Conner figured that it was some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder.

He honestly wasn't surprised that she was so skittish and scared at times. No one could simply be able to walk away from what she had experienced when she was younger.

One day Conner decided to take Athena to metropolis to meet up with Clark. However, the two reached the city a little late, so Conner paid for a hotel room for them to stay the night.

Conner gently tucked the girl into the giant hotel bed. All the pillows looked like they were eating Athena alive, but the girl didn't seem to mind.

In the girl's hand was Ralph, and Conner made sure the blanket was snug around her.

"Good night, Athena." he whispered as he softly kissed the girl on the head, then went to turn off the lights.

"Good night, Conner." Athena yawned, then quickly dozed off.

Conner laid in the bed next to hers and rested his head on the pillow, falling to sleep easily.

"**NO!**" there was a loud shriek, and Conner jumped, startled from his sleep. He almost instantly registered the voice as Athena's, and he turned on the lights, then placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

She was sobbing and mumbling words that were unclear to Conner, but she had yet to wake up. She was still asleep, and by the way her face was contorting like she was in pain, Conner knew she was having a nightmare.

"Athena." he whispered, gently stroking the girl's cheek. However, Athena was oblivious to the soothing gesture, and her nightmare seemed to get worse.

Athena's body slowly started to rise off of the bed, and objects in the room started shaking due to her telekinesis.

"Athena, wake up." Conner said in an urgent tone, but Athena was still asleep. Conner shook her slightly, but the girl still didn't wake.

Conner sighed. He hated having to wake her up by yelling, but he knew that if he didn't he'd have to explain why several of the objects in the hotel room were broken, and he also hated to see Athena so terrified.

"Athena wake up!" he exclaimed, and the girl's eyes flickered open, and her eyes moved rapidly across the room in confusion.

She was shaking and breathing heavily, and her powers didn't let up. Her mind was still trying to process whether she was still dreaming or if she was in reality.

Conner grasped Athena's hand and slowly pulled her down from the air, while whispering,

"Shhh, it's okay, Athena. It's okay. Shhh, it was only a bad dream. Shhh, you're okay." The objects in the room stopped shaking, but Athena didn't.

Conner held her in a strong hug, and Athena buried her face in his chest, sobbing.

"I k-killed them." She cried. "I killed them all."

"You didn't kill anyone Athena. It was just a bad dream." He informed in a soft voice as he rubbed her back in soothing circles, trying to calm the girl down.

No doubt he'd have bruises the next day from how tight Athena was squeezing his arm.

_I killed them. _Athena thought to herself. _And I liked it. _That was the part that scared her the most.

_Milo had me strapped down, about to shoot my arm with his gun, and I tore through my bonds and snapped his neck with my fingers._ She thought. _And same went for the guards who would stand by and smirk at my pain. As if my purpose was entertaining them by screaming in agony. I killed them all like it was nothing, smiling while doing so. They smiled when I got hurt, why not smile when I felt their bones snap between my fingers? _Athena sobbed harder into Conner's chest when she thought about that.

_No! That's wrong! A good person doesn't think like that!_ She thought, but then her mind went back to her nightmare.

_Then the league was standing there. They all saw me kill the men. Conner was there too and he looked at me with such disgust, such… hatred. _Athena shook even more at that. _Conner hated me_. she let out a loud sob, then continued to recall herdream.

_They turned their backs on me, refusing to look after a killer. I then had no choice. _Athena shook harder, grasping tighter onto Conner.

_Ra's Al Ghul took me in. He wasn't lying when he said that his doors were always open for me. But… his eyes. They taunted me. He taunted me. He smiled wickedly at my misfortune while acting like he cared. _

Ra's Al Ghul scared Athena. She never wanted to see the man again. He could turn anything into a weapon, even his words, and that scared Athena the most. He could get to her without even striking.

What scared Athena more than Ra's was the possibility of her killing another person. She enjoyed hurting Milo, and to be honest, she most likely would have enjoyed killing him as well. But she didn't like those thoughts running around in her head. It made her feel like some sort of monster, and she didn't want to be a monster. She wanted to be a _person_.

"C-Conner, I don't feel good." She whispered.

"It's okay, Athena." he whispered, kissing her forehead and continuing to rub her back. "Do you want some saltine crackers?" he inquired, knowing that the food usually made the girl feel better. It was something plain that eased her stomach.

The girl nodded, and Conner carried her to the bag where he packed the crackers, just in case an occasion like this occurred. Because it occurred quite often, unfortunately.

Conner handed the girl a roll of crackers and she nibbled lightly on one, making sure not to get crumbs everywhere.

Conner then carried the girl back to the bed, and questioned,

"Do you want to talk about it?" Athena knew he was referring to the dream.

Usually when Athena had a bad dream, Conner calmed her down and then once she seemed calm enough he asked her if she wanted to talk about it. Sometimes she'd say no. Other times she'd say yes. This time was no different.

She shook her head, no.

Whenever she answered no, Conner would respect that, but would try to get more information from her to make her feel better.

"Alright, Athena. Are you still scared?" he inquired, and she nodded, continuing to nibble on her cracker.

"Of Ra's Al Ghul." She whispered. "And me killing people, and you…" she was quiet again. She didn't want to say it. She didn't even want to think about it, because to her it was too awful.

Conner raised an eyebrow.

"Me what, Athena?" he inquired in a gentle voice. He knew that when he tried to demand answers she only got more scared.

"You hating me." she answered, tearing up just remembering his disgusted face. Conner's eyes widened and he hugged the girl again.

"I would _never_ hate you." He whispered, kissing the top of her head. "I could never bring myself to."

"You promise?" Athena inquired, and Conner nodded his head.

"I promise." He said firmly, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

Conner handed Athena Ralph and questioned,

"Do you want me to sleep in your bed with you?" he wasn't surprised when the girl nodded, yes.

Conner turned off the light, briefly looking at the clock and noticing it was three in the morning, then laid next to Athena in the hotel bed.

Athena was quickly against him, her head resting on his arm like a pillow and her forehead rested lightly on the side of his chest. She was asleep quickly.

Conner wished that he could make her nightmares disappear. He wish that he could make her less uneasy. However, even though she was away from Cadmus, how she was treated there left a long lasting mark on her.

Conner could only hope that Athena would get better with age.


	5. OPEFA aka Stalking

**Sorry this one is short, but i had a lot of fun with it :)**

**This one is for Secret who asked for Conner Nightwing stalking. Please enjoy and tell me what you think**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

"Is this considered stalking?" Conner questioned, and Dick gave the clone a hard look, shaking his head.

"Stalking is such a _harsh _word." Dick stated. "I prefer to call it over protective examination from afar, or OPEFA. Now what Tim does, _that's _stalking." Conner looked at him blankly. "Tim uses a camera." Dick informed, as if that explained everything.

"Did we really need to dress up like this?" Conner inquired, itching at the tweed sweater, and poking at the pocket protector.

Conner had to admit, when it came to disguises Dick got _very_ into it. Go big or go home, he supposed.

Conner was also given big circular glasses and a shaggy black wig.

The Clone didn't necessarily like the look, but it could be worse. He could be wearing a dress like Dick.

Though Conner did have to admit that Dick looked pretty good in heels. With the right outfit and makeup, Dick made a pretty woman.

_God this is so wrong._ He thought.

"Wearing the outfits make us more serious, Bob." Dick informed matter-of-factly.

"Whatever you say Dickella." Conner smirked, and Dick elbowed him.

"It's not Dickella it's Marissa!" his eyes then widened. "Act casual!"

Athena and Ramon walked by, heading into the art shop.

"Did you see that?" Dick questioned, and Conner shrugged.

"They walked into an art store."

"They were holding hands!" Dick exclaimed spastically.

"She holds hands with everyone. I think it's some sort of comfort for her." Conner informed calmly.

To be honest, Ramon holding her hand would get to him more if the boy seemed like he was capable of hurting Athena. However, Ramon looked like he wasn't even capable of picking up a toothpick.

It looked more like Athena was his older sister, and not some sort of kid boyfriend and girlfriend.

"It doesn't matter, she is holding hands with a boy her age. I'm not ready to have the talk to her yet." Dick stated.

"She's only about eight. She doesn't need the talk yet." Conner said, glaring at the man. "Besides, I'm sure Canary and Wonder Woman will give her the talk. That's not something for you to worry about." He then smirked. "Unless you want to be Mama-wing."

"Not feeling the aster with the name dude." Dick said with a glare, and Conner shrugged.

"Well, you are dressed like a girl." Before Dick could respond, Athena and Ramon excited the store and headed to the park.

"C'mon Bob, we gotta go." Dick stated.

"Whatever you say, Marissa." The clone sighed.

Athena and Ramon sat underneath a tree in the park happily and the girl leaned comfortably on the tree as Ramon sat next to her and held his pencil and sketchpad.

Their hands were separated, but Athena seemed comfortable leaning against Ramon.

Conner didn't know how he felt about Athena leaning on the boy. She seemed relaxed around him. Very at ease.

Conner didn't want to be protective, but it dawned on him that Ramon might not be able to hurt Athena physically, but he might be able to harm her emotionally.

"If that boy hurts her, he is going to be in big trouble." Conner grunted.

"You think? He _knows_ who she's related to. He'd be an idiot to hurt her." Dick stated, but still looked at the boy with mistrust.

Little did the two teens in disguise know that they were being talked about.

"Who are those two people staring at us?" Ramon inquired, looking over at the man and woman, who both looked away as if on cue.

"Oh, that's just Conner and Dick." Athena giggled with a small shrug.

"One of them is a _man_?" Ramon questioned, and Athena nodded.

"Tim looks better in a dress though." She mused. Ramon gave her a shocked look and Athena said in defense, "They go undercover a lot."

"Huh." Ramon nodded, then continued to draw.

"See that shadow near the trees over there?" Athena inquired, and Ramon looked over and spotted it.

"Yeah?" he questioned, and Athena smirked.

"That's Bruce."


	6. Fireworks

**Angst again... sorry :( **

**This is for theshadowwithinyoursoul who wanted Athena's reaction to fireworks... yeah i kinda took it my own way, but fireworks are in this.**

**Please enjoy and tell me what you think :)**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

_Out of all days for Athena to get Super hearing, it had to be today._ Conner thought as he tried to sooth the little girl, who was covering her ears as she shook and cried.

Before he had even fathomed the possibility of Athena getting her super hearing, Conner decided that he would take Athena to see her first fireworks.

She had never seen any before, and Conner had a feeling that she would enjoy them.

"So they explode?" Athena inquired as the two sat on the lawn in the park, waiting for the fireworks to go off.

"Yeah, and they make interesting patterns and colors. You should like it." He grinned, and then looked back up at the sky, waiting for the show to begin.

Athena looked over and mimiced his actions, waiting to see what the fireworks were like in real person.

The first one went up into the air and exploded, creating a red and green pattern and Athena smiled in delight.

More fireworks went off and Athena watched happily at the different colors following each boom.

_**"BOOM!"**_ Athena covered her ears, yelping in pain. That one suddenly seemed louder than the rest to her. After the bang of the firework voices seemed to run through Athena's mind.

'RFGOTNJGFK Mommy look at the fire _I said that I didn't want popcorn and _**why did you do this **I think that _you should JEFNRFNF _**he said **I don't _father _**can I **Love you OIFNCGF RFC _**BOOM! BOOM! **_VKFNBGK Why do _he likes _**ice cream **JVIUGHGE _**BOOM! **__Feeling like _**but you said **water is what FIREFRG WRFT _**BOOM! **_IEFRGER RGCG _That looks good _**why not just **it's too hot for RJBGILBT REFCG _**BOOM! **_RJGTVGRJ _Dogs are better _**my favorite sport is **I hate him DDEJFONDFC _**BOOM! **_FVELSGBVTH _She ate my _**knives are cooler **his name is JVJHODFVG_** BOOM! **_RITNV JGKNVR _Star wars vrs. Star Trek _**how many licks **gotta catch 'em all GTKGNWKS _**BOOM! BOOM!**_' Voices screamed in the girl's mind, and Athena groaned in pain.

"Conner." She whispered, but even her own voice echoed and she felt tears prick her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Conner questioned.

"Loud." She whispered, shaking.

"The fireworks?" he looked at her with concern.

"Everything." She grunted out, and her eyes watered from all the pain she felt.

"Super hearing." Conner said under his breath, but the girl heard it crisply.

"Conner, make it stop." She cried, wincing at her own sound. "P-please."

Conner wish he knew what to tell her. He placed his hands over her ears as well, but this did little to stop the sound.

"Athena, focus on my voice." he stated serriously.

"So many people…"

"Athena, it will be okay, just focus on my voice. Focus." Athena closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on Conner's voice.

"Everything will be okay, Athena. Just focus. I know too much can hurt. I know, but you have got to focus on my voice and everything else will drown out then go away. It's okay. Just listen to my voice, alright?"

Athena's tears dissipated as she listened to Conner. the noises around his voice started to fade away until all she heard was him. She slowly removed her hands from her ears, and Conner frowned at the blood.

The noise was way too much for her.

"C-Conner." She whispered. "I don't like Super hearing." She shook her head. "I hate it."

Conner understood her pain. Super hearing was something she needed to get used to dealing with. It wasn't hard to get used to, but he knew the beginning was always painful.

"It'll be okay, Athena." he whispered. "It's just something we'll have to practice." He then looked at her ears with worry.

"Let's have Bruce check your ears out." He said with a small smile, but Athena was still shaking.

"Everything is so loud… it all makes a sound." She whispered, and Conner nodded.

"Yes, but there are ways to tune out the loudness. It's not that hard, it only takes practice." Conner informed with an encouraging smile, and he held out his hand for her to hold.

She took it, and walked with Conner to the manor.

She looked up at the sky and smiled slightly at the fireworks that were finishing up.

"I like them." She whispered. Conner raised an eyebrow, looking at the sky.

"The fireworks?" he inquired, and the girl nodded.

"Yes... Even if they are loud."


	7. Back Together

**YG and HG Rocks wanted Athena and Gar to try to get Conner and M'gann back together. Hope you enjoy and tell me what you think :)**

**Sorry for it's shortness.**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Conner looked around the kitchen, and frowned when he only saw M'gann.

Conner didn't want to talk to M'gann unless it was absolutely necessary. It was tense just standing in the same room with her.

M'gann seemed to feel the same way.

She looked over at him reluctantly and questioned,

"Have you seen Gar? He told me to meet him in the kitchen." M'gann informed. Conner sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"No. But that's funny, because Athena told me she wanted to meet me in the kitchen as well." He stated. The two slowly looked over at the dining table and noticed two lit candles with a plate of spaghetti in the middle.

The two were used to Athena and Gar trying to set them up on dates and getting together. However, the kids didn't seem to understand that they truly didn't want to be together again.

Conner and M'gann exchanged looks, and simultaneously went different ways.

"I told you it wouldn't work." Athena stated, watching the entire thing play out through the small camera she set up in the kitchen. She was lying on the bed in Gar's room with the boy sitting next to her.

"It was better than your original plan." Gar argued, and Athena raise an eyebrow.

"How so?" she inquired, tilting her head to the side.

"I can't make animals sing while somehow getting Conner and M'gann onto a boat." Gar said dryly.

"It worked well in The Little Mermaid, I can't see how it wouldn't work in real life." Athena stated, and Gar sighed.

"You're crazy, but I still have some other things we could do to get the two back together." Gar informed with a sly smile.

"Do it Lion King style, and sing _Can you feel the love tonight_?" Athena questioned seriously, and Gar shook his head.

"Mal has you watch too much Disney." He sighed.

"Mal told me that there is no such thing as 'too much Disney.'" Athena informed matter-of-factly.

"Noted." Gar sighed. "Anyway, this is what we need to do…"

~*~*~*~*~*~A Few Days Later~*~*~*~*~*~

Conner raised an eyebrow at the blinking 'Missed Message' symbol on his cell phone. He didn't use it often so he wasn't used to having people text him.

_Hey Conner. Can we talk? _

It was from M'gann of all people. However, something about the text made it feel not as bad as when they usually tried to talk. It didn't seem as personal. Plus, it put him more at ease how via text she couldn't read his mind.

Conner took in a deep breath, staring at the words on his phone. He couldn't help the smile that slowly graced his face and he started to text back.

~*~*~*~*~*~Elsewhere~*~*~*~*~*~

M'gann looked at her cell phone, confused that she got a text from Conner. She debated with herself whether or not she wanted to open it, but she figured that she had nothing to lose.

_Sure. How are you? _M'gann was a bit confused about the random 'sure' but was happy that he was actually _talking _to her again.

She smiled as she started to text him back.

~*~*~*~*~*~ In Athena's Old Room~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are you sure that they will get back together just by one text?" Athena inquired as she went through an Elvis song in her head, tapping her feet simultaneously. "Because if not, music is always the answer." Gar smiled at her, shaking his head.

"It'll work. They just need to take small steps."


	8. Lex Luthor

**This takes place after the Nightmare chapter. this is Athena's and Conner's talk with Clark. :)**

**Also, if you guys have any prompts for chapters that you want to see, please tell me **

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Conner had told Athena that he was going to take her to metropolis so they could meet up with Clark.

Athena was still a bit apprehensive about talking to Clark because she has just started to wrap her mind around the fact that the man was actually _okay_ with her being his somewhat daughter.

Unfortunately, even though this made Athena happy, she still held some resentment towards the man for not trusting her from the beginning.

"Athena, make sure you stick close to me, okay? Metropolis is a bit busy at this time." Conner informed as the two stepped off of the bus onto the streets of Metropolis, and Athena nodded.

People rushed past the two and Conner held the girl's hand tightly, keeping her from getting separated from him.

Athena flinched each time a person brushed past her. She didn't like big crowds. They made her very uneasy, and she wanted to get to a place with less people.

The more they continued to move through the crowd, the more nervous Athena became. She started to shake, and Conner could feel it while holding her hand.

He quickly pulled Athena closer to him and lifted her up, carrying her instead so she would have his arms around her instead of other people.

"Are you okay?" Conner questioned, but Athena was quiet, closing her eyes and holding onto him as tight as she could.

The two finally reached the restaurant where they were to meet up, and Conner placed Athena gently onto the ground.

"Hey, are you okay?" he inquired again, and the girl slowly nodded, her eyes darting around at all the people on the street.

"Yes." She answered in a whisper, and Conner grasped her hand as the two walked into the restaurant.

Inside the restaurant, Clark was waiting for them. It was shocking how much Conner and Clark looked alike. Especially how Conner wore glasses to hide his identity as well.

_Well, Conner is a clone_. Athena figured, but it was still strange to her.

"Hello Clark." Conner grinned, and Athena gave a small smile.

"Hello." She said in a weak voice. She was still shaking from the situation outside, and she was also nervous about talking to Clark again.

"Are you okay?" Clark inquired as Athena and Conner slid into the booth.

"She's not very good with crowds." Conner informed, and Clark nodded.

"I see." He then brightened slightly. "What do you two want for breakfast? I'll order when the waitress comes by, it's on me."

"I'll just have some coffee." Conner shrugged, then looked over at Athena.

"It's on you?" the girl questioned, confused by the phrase.

"It just means he's paying." Conner informed, and the girl nodded.

"Oh… can I have an apple? And some tea?" Clark nodded, smiling kindly at the girl.

"Sure thing, Athena." Athena leaned her head on Conner's side, which didn't surprise him. She was tired from her nightmare the night before.

"Is she alright?" Clark questioned in a whispered tone, but Athena still heard it, she was sitting right next to Conner.

"Yes. She's just tired." Conner nodded, and it was quiet between the three of them.

"Clark, do you like pizza?" Athena's small voice inquired, breaking the silence. Both Conner and Clark looked at the girl in confusion.

"Pizza?" Clark questioned, making sure he head right, and the girl nodded her head.

"Yes. Pizza."

"Yes… I suppose I like pizza." Conner informed, and the girl took the information with a small nod of her head.

"Alright." She nodded. "What about whipped cream? Do you like whipped cream?" the girl inquired, and both men were confused where the random questions were coming from.

"Yes. I like whipped cream." Clark nodded.

"Do you like bears?"

"Athena, why are you asking me these questions?" Clark inquired. Athena looked down at her feet for a moment, then looked back up at him.

"I just wanted to see what we had in common." She informed in a small voice.

Clark smiled slightly at the girl. He was happy that she was trying to get to know him.

"I like bears." He grinned, just as the waitress came over for their orders, and he recited what everyone wanted.

The woman walked away to the kitchen just as Metropolis' richest man walked into the restaurant. Lex Luthor.

Athena noticed how both Clark and Conner tensed at the man entering, so she figured the guy was bad news.

However, he smiled when he saw Clark, as if they were friends.

"Hello Mr. Kent." Lex grinned. "critiquing restaurants for _The Daily Planet_?" he inquired. Clark immediately started fumbling around with the fork he "accidently" knocked off of the table.

"No, Mr. Luthor." Clark smiled. "Only out with my little brother and friend." Lex Luthor raised an eyebrow and he looked over at Conner and Athena.

Conner prayed that Lex wouldn't recognize him, but changing his hairstyle and wearing glasses seemed to do the trick.

Lex gave them a charismatic smile, and extended his hand to shake.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Mr. Luthor." Conner smiled in a soft-spoken voice, shaking the man's hand. Lex's green eyes then settled on Athena.

"And I recognize you. You're Bruce's new adopted daughter." Lex smiled, and Athena shook his hand with a small smile, but was nervous due to how Clark and Conner were acting.

"H-hello." She grinned.

"Athena, am I right?" he questioned, and Athena gave a small shy nod.

"Pleasure to meet you in person, young lady." Lex smiled, then turned to Clark. "I didn't know you were friends with Bruce Wayne."

"I'm not, but Conner does some things for Wayne Enterprises, and Mr. Wayne wanted him to show Athena Metropolis." Clark explained.

"I'm surprised you aren't questioning her for your newspaper. You would finally have a headline instead of Ms. Lane." Lex informed with a smile.

Athena's mind went to the party where Vikki Vale was pressuring her for answers.

"I don't like being questioned." Athena informed quickly, and Lex's gaze was on her again.

"Why not?" he inquired.

"Because the last woman who questioned me wouldn't let me leave to find Bruce, and she was mean, and asked personal things that weren't any of her business." She informed with a frown.

"I can understand why you wouldn't like being questioned then." Lex nodded with a smile, then looked back at Clark.

"I have business to attend with a colleague here, but it was nice seeing you Mr. Kent." His attention then turned to Conner,

"It was nice meeting you, young man." His eyes then settled on Athena.

"It was a pleasure meeting you as well, Ms. Athena." he smiled, then walked off.

Athena looked at Conner then to Clark.

"Why don't you two like him?" Athena inquired in a whisper.

"He's evil." Conner stated in a whisper, making a face, and Athena didn't like the face he was making. She never wanted to be the cause of that face.

"He is too good at covering up his tracks to get sent to prison." Clark informed, and Athena nodded, feeling guilty for thinking the man was kind. Lex Luthor definitely was charismatic.

The waitress returned with their food and Clark inquired,

"Can we also have some whipped cream in a bowl?" the waitress looked at him confused.

"As in… spraying whipped cream into a bowl?" she inquired.

"With a spoon, please." Clark added with a smile. The waitress slowly nodded, then walked off to get the food.

Conner and Athena looked at the man perplexed, and Clark shrugged.

"You said you like whipped cream."

Athena couldn't help but smile. Her resentment towards Clark slowly started to dissipate. She had to learn how to forgive, and, come on, the man was buying her a bowl of whipped cream.


	9. Training

**Please tell me what you think and enjoy :D**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Conner wished that he could help Athena more with her training. He knew that he couldn't do it for her, but whenever she grunted in pain or frustration when doing something, Conner wanted to just tell her she could stop and get her away from the training room.

However, Athena was very big about training. She wanted to be a hero one day, and even though she didn't know when or what name she would go by, she knew that she _needed_ to get her powers under control.

"Are you alright?" Conner inquired with worry as Athena held slabs of cement over her head. Her arms shook slightly, but she was clearly focused.

"Y-yes." she nodded. "Can you add another slab?" she questioned, looking over at the pile of cement slabs.

"Okay, remember, tell me if it gets too heavy." Conner said with some worry in his voice. He didn't want her to get in over her head and injure herself.

She nodded mutely and Conner added another slab of cement over the girl.

Her arms shook but she continued to hold the slabs. She was breathing heavily, but she was pushing herself as muh as she could.

Conner wanted to cheer her on and try to push her to do as best as she could, but he knew not to pressure her. If she got too pressured she'd get scared and break down. It had happened once before and Conner didn't want a repeat.

He remembered pushing her, telling her that she could keep holding a basketball in the air, even when she said she couldn't. And then the girl broke down. She zoned out as if she was no longer there, and she shook in fear. There was no tears, only a look of horror.

Conner believed that it reminded Athena when she was at Cadmus, and would get yelled at whenever she said she couldn't do something.

Athena wasn't good with being yelled at.

"C-Conner." Athena shuttered as she started to sink to her knees, buckling at the weight of the cement.

Conner quickly grabbed the cement slabs and hauled them off of Athena's hands.

The girl sighed in relief and swung her arms finaly giving them a rest after about thirty minutes of the weight lifting. She was relieved to have her arms free, however, she had a frown on her fac.

Conner gave her an encouraging smile.

"That was great, Athena. twenty seven slabs. Five more than last week." He grinned, but Athena kept the frown on her face.

"I was so close to Thirty." she sighed and Conner placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You're getting better each day. You'll get to thirty soon." Conner smiled, and Athena's frown melted away.

"So, what next?" Athena inquired.

"Next we're going to work on your super hearing." He informed, and Athena winced slightly, remembering the last time they practice her super hearing.

She remembered all the pain and how she was having trouble focusing.

"Don't worry. It'll be okay." Conner said in a comforting voice. "The more you practice, the better you get at it." The clone then showed Athena a CD player with headphones.

"After this training session, I'll give you these and you can focus on Elvis and relax." He informed.

"Okay." Athena sighed.

"Alright, now, Gar is watching television in the living room. Try to focus on the television and just the television. Drown out any other sounds."

Athena took in a deep breath and opened her ears, listening for the television. She found it, and quickly tried to hone in on the device, and nothing else.

"I can hear the television." Athena whispered. "He's watching Tom and Jerry." She informed, and felt accomplished that she was able to concentrate on the television and not anyone else.

"That's great." Conner smiled. "Now, can you hear Gar's breath? Or heartbeat."

Athena took in a deep breath, and tried to listen for the sound of Gar's breath. However, just when she thought she found it, her concentration snapped for a moment, and that's all it took.

Athena grunted in pain and covered her ears.

"Focus, Athena." Conner said quickly, holding the girl tightly. "Just focus on my voice right now, okay. Focus on my voice."

Conner rubbed Athena's back as he continued talking, giving the girl something to focus on.

"I-I'm okay now." Athena whispered, and shook her head. "I really don't like super hearing."

"It'll be okay. You did better than last time. You can only improve." Conner informed gently, and Athena nodded, but still frowned.

Conner handed Athena the CD player and headphones.

"Relax and listen to music. Then we can go out for ice cream, okay?"

Athena smiled slightly, accepting the headphones gratefully, and she sat down on one of the comfortable chairs.

"Thank you for training me." Athena whispered, and Conner grinned. He kissed the top of her head, then sat in a chair next to her.

"No problem."


	10. Ticklish

**This chapter is for mini ninja 132 who asked for me tickling Athena. So Athena shall be tickled! MUAHAHAHAHA! Thanks mini ninja 132! I hope you like it! :)**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

**P.S. **

**I'm sorry for posting late. I want to try to post at least a chapter a day, but i got a fever from getting dehydrated and eating moldy pie (I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS MOLDY! PIE IS PIE! I WASN'T GOING TO INVESTIGATE IT!) So since i was sick, i kinda slept and was on the toilet all day. So sorry for that :)**

Athena sat on the couch, watching Lilo and Stitch for the billionth time. As always at the end, she started crying softly, but she hid her face from Conner, who was watching it with her.

Conner knew that Athena always cried at the end of the movie. He supposed that it just really hit home, however, he never knew if they were happy tears or sad tears. He hoped they were tears of happiness.

"Athena, you okay?" he inquired softly, but she didn't hear him. "Athena?" Conner gently poked Athena on the side and her body jerked for a moment.

"That felt weird." Athena whispered, drying her tears. She poked herself in the side, and looked at herself confused. "I don't feel it anymore."

"You're ticklish." Conner informed, and Athena looked at him confused.

"Ticklish?" she questioned, and Conner smirked at her.

"I'll show you." He then started to run his fingers over her sides and stomach and she started laughing uncontrollably.

"C-conner! What… HAHAHAHAHA!" Athena was laughing hard as she tried to scooch away from Conner's hand, curling herself in a ball, but Conner still managed to get at her stomach and tickle the girl.

"Conner! Sto… HAHAHAHA!"

"What was that?" Conner questioned as he continued to tickle her.

"Sto-op!" she giggled. Conner laughed and stopped tickling her, and she gave him the best glare she could muster.

She was trying to mimic Batman's glare, but she needed more practice. It just made her look cuter than usual. Maybe she'd look more intimidating if she didn't stick her bottom lip out.

"Why'd you do that?" she questioned, continuing her glare.

"You stopped crying." He smiled, but then immediately wished he hadn't said that. He knew that she tried her hardest so people wouldn't see her cry.

Her glare melted away and she touched her check gently, checking for tears and noticing that they were dry.

"Oh…" she whispered. "You saw me crying?" Conner mutely nodded, his smile turning into a straight face.

"I'm sorry. It's just… that movie is really good, but it hits me hard. My heart just hurts when I watch it, and I just have to cry." She explained, placing a hand over her heart. "I can't explain it that well. I just… the movie makes me feel like I'm like Stitch, and I got a family instead of being killed by the people at Cadmus." She explained.

"I understand." Conner said in a gentle voice.

Athena looked up at Conner and questioned,

"Are you ticklish?" she was clearly trying to get off the subject, but Conner didn't mind.

He knew Athena was very emotional, and when she talked about her emotions he felt helpless. Conner couldn't punch emotions, and he tried his best to make her feel better, but Cadmus left a lasting mark on Athena, and that mark would most likely never go away.

He hoped that maybe Athena could talk to Black Canary about how she felt.

"No Athena. I am not ticklish." He said with a small smile, but then whispered, "But I heard that Dick's ticklish in his armpits." He informed, and Athena raised an eyebrow.

"How can you be ticklish in your armpits?" she inquired. Conner quickly started tickling Athena's armpits and she busted out in laughter.

"That's how." Conner informed as he stopped tickling her and Athena stopped laughing, and glared at him again.

"That is so strange and shouldn't be possible." she stated with a looked of unamusement, however, her face then softened, and she whispered, "If you ever see me crying at an end of a movie… can you tickle me?"

Conner nodded.

"Sure thing." His face then brightened. "Don't forget what I told you about Dick and his armpits."

"Understood." Athena giggled.

Dick wanted to punch whoever tipped Conner off to the fact that he was ticklish in his armpits.

…

It was Barbra.


	11. Paige

**Please tell me what you think and enjoy :)**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

"She needs a friend who's a girl." Conner stated. Batman looked at the clone, and questioned,

"Why is that?"

Conner thought back to that afternoon when he came to pick Athena up from Ramon's house.

Indira, Ramon's mom, answered the door and she showed him where Ramon and Athena were sleeping on the couch.

Athena was holding the kid as if he were a teddy bear since he was so small, but the little boy didn't seem to mind.

While it was cute, it slightly unnerved Conner at the same time. He didn't know exactly how to explain it, but he was still unnerved by the way they held each other.

Conner carried Athena back to the mansion. Apparently she was teaching Ramon how to play basketball and was running around a lot.

For a small guy, Ramon could _run_.

"I think she'd benefit from having a friend who's a girl. You know a friend who could do girl… things with." Conner explained. He didn't want his reasoning to be that he was paranoid about a little boy.

"Well, I have been looking around for a girl playmate for her." Batman nodded. He wouldn't admit it, but he noticed how close Athena was with the boy Ramon and, as a father, it made him nervous.

"Have you found anyone?" Conner inquired with hope.

"Wally has a younger cousin who lives in Gotham. Her name is Paige West, and she knows about the rest of her family and their abilities. So, I believe that it makes her a good candidate to be friends with Athena. Not to mention she's about Athena's age." Batman explained, and Conner smiled.

"Sounds great."

"I've already contacted the girl's mother. Athena will be visiting them tomorrow." Conner was surprised how Batman had everything planned so quickly, but he _was _Batman.

~*~*~*~*~*~The Next Day~*~*~*~*~*~

Athena looked at the girl in front of her shyly.

"Hi." The girl smiled. She had longer curly strawberry blond hair, and pale skin that was covered in freckles. Athena couldn't see the color of the girl's eyes because they were hidden behind a large pair of aviator glasses.

She was taller than Ramon, but still shorter than Athena. Athena was most likely the tallest eight year old alive.

"My name is Paige." The girl informed.

"My name is Athena."

There was a long pause between the two.

"I like your sun glasses." Athena whispered and Paige smiled happily.

"Thanks! I got 'em from my cousin Wally. I think you heard of him as Kid Flash. At least he used to be Kid Flash. I wish I could run really fast." She informed. "I heard that you have super powers." Athena mutely nodded, worried about the girl's reaction.

"That's so cool!" Paige exclaimed. "D'you think you could throw me in the air, and then catch me, and then throw me up in the air again and then juggle me with a bowling ball and car!"

Athena looked at the girl in some shock.

"Um… I dunno if I could do that safely… but maybe I could fly a bit with you on my back." Athena informed slowly.

"Really? That'd be so cool! I'd be able to fly like a pilot. I love airplanes. I want to fly one someday! And I want to be a writer too. D'you know I read a book once with Peter Pan in it? He can fly. Isn't that cool? So can we fly?"

Athena chuckled, and let Paige hold onto her shoulders and Athena hovered in the air, lifting Paige up and flying a little throughout the girl's room. She then let Paige climb off her back, and she landed on the ground.

"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Paige exclaimed. "Are you gonna be a Superhero? Of course you're gonna be a superhero. I bet you will be soooo cool! Do you like pickles? I like pickles. Do you want some pickles?"

Athena was trying to keep up with the girl, and then nodded.

"Alright. Thank you."

"No problem." Paige shrugged as she led Athena to the kitchen. "Y'know, I'm reading this book. And it's really cool and it's about this little mouse who wants to be like humans instead of like mice, and he has really big ears, and he loves this Princess and there is a Rat who loves sun light, and…"

Athena smiled as she listened to Paige talk. Yes… she liked Paige. She was happy that Bruce had them meet.


	12. Fever

**Enjoy!**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

"Ramon, you should head home. I do not want you to catch Athena's fever." Alfred informed as he walked into the little girl's room with a tray of homemade soup and orange juice.

Ramon looked at Athena sadly, but nodded.

"Alright Mr. Alfred." he sighed. "Feel better soon Athena."

"I'll try. Bye Ramon." Athena said in a raspy whisper. Her voice was raw and it sounded painful for her to speak.

Ramon left the room and was head back home.

"How are you feeling, my dear?" Alfred questioned as he placed the tray of food on Athena's nightstand.

"Better than last night." She informed truthfully, which made sense because the night before she was vomiting in the toilet for what felt like hours.

"Does anything hurt?" Alfred inquired as he lightly dabbed at the sweat on Athena's forehead.

"My stomach… and my head… I don't like this." She groaned.

"Nobody does, Athena, but you will be well again." Alfred informed. "Now, you should drink some Orange juice. You need your fluids or you will get dehydrated."

Athena took the glass with a shaky hand and sipped the juice, wincing slightly.

"How is she feeling?" Conner questioned, walking into the room with a concerned look on his face.

"She is no longer vomiting, but she has a headache and some remaining nausea." Alfred informed as he set the glass of juice onto the nightstand.

"Conner?" Athena questioned.

"I'm here, Athena." the clone said in a gentle tone.

He didn't like how Athena looked.

Her darker skin was very pale, and her eyes looked red. Dark bags were under her eyes from her restless night before. Her hair was tied back out of her face, most likely to prevent her hair getting in any of her vomit. Her body was covered in sweat.

Conner sat on the side of the bed, and looked up at Alfred.

"May I stay here with her?" he questioned, and Alfred sighed.

"As long as you know that you risk getting her fever." Conner nodded, accepting what the man had to say.

"Thank you, Alfred." The older man left the room, and Conner scooped up some soup with the spoon.

"Here, you should have some soup." Athena slowly grasped the spoon and sipped at the broth and some noodles.

"I thought the injections I received were supposed to prevent this." Athena said in a voice that sounded painful.

"Injections don't make you invulnerable to illnesses, they only lessen the chances of getting sick." Conner explained as he had Athena drink more of the soup.

"So I just have bad luck?" she questioned.

"I guess you could say that." Conner sighed. He then handed Athena the glass of orange juice, and she slowly drank.

Conner set the glass down, and Athena groaned in pain, her eyes watering.

"Everything's getting louder again… and my ears… and my headache…"

"It's okay, Athena. Shhh. Focus on my voice. Just a little focus, okay, where are your headphones?" Athena pointed to her desk, and Conner quickly grabbed them, and covered her ears with the headphones, and turned on the Elvis music, giving her something to easily focus on.

She relaxed a bit, but squeezed Conner's hand.

With her being sick, it made sense how her Super hearing would go off since she wouldn't be concentrating on keeping it in check.

"You should rest. Close your eyes, and try to sleep, alright?" he whispered. Athena nodded and she closed her eyes, welcoming sleep.

Conner sat next to her, rubbing her head in small circles with his fingertips.

"Thank you, Dad." Athena whispered. Conner smiled at the girl.

"No problem."


	13. Tea Party

**This chapter is for the wonderful .Roared. for the prompt and being very nice :) I hope you enjoy it! **

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Conner was surprised when he saw Athena sitting at the small table with a tea set and Ralph on the other side. She wore a large purple hat and some over-sized gloves.

"Hello Conner." Athena smiled.

"Hey, Athena." Conner grinned, but looked at her a bit confused. "What are you doing?"

"Paige told me that tea parties are fun to have, and I had a tea party at her house. It was strange… but fun. Do you want to have a tea party with me?" she inquired with a smile.

Conner wished Athena never met Paige, despite how Paige was Athena's only female friend.

He sighed, but smiled and nodded his head.

"Sure. I'll have a tea party with you." Athena beamed happily, and beckoned him to a small chair, which he awkwardly sat in.

"Do you want to wear a hat?" Athena inquired, and Conner forced a smile.

"Sure."

Athena brought out a pink hat with a purple flower on it.

"Do you like this one?" she inquired, and Conner didn't want to say 'no' to her.

"Yes. It's very pretty." Athena placed the hat on Conner and sat on the chair across from him.

"Mr. Conner, would you like some tea?" she questioned in a surprisingly convincing English accent. (she most likely acquired it from Alfred.)

"Yes please, Ms. Athena." Conner grinned in a very horrible fake accent that sounded more Irish then English.

Regardless, Athena poured him a cup of tea, then turned to look at Ralph.

"How about you, Mr. Ralph? Would you like some tea?" A long moment of silence passed and then Athena nodded.

"Alright." She poured Ralph a cup, then a cup for herself.

"Mr. Conner, how many cubes of sugar do you want?" she inquired.

"Um… two?" Conner never drank much tea. Athena placed the two cubes of sugar into Conner's cup, and then asked Ralph the same question, which was answered by silence.

Athena then dropped one cube of sugar into the bear's cup.

She took one sugar cube as well.

Conner was about to take a sip, but then notice the look Athena was giving him.

"What?" he questioned.

"Pinky extended, Mr. Conner. Like this." She said as she gave him an example as she sipped her cup with her pinky in the air.

"Sorry Ms. Athena." the clone apologized, then took a sip of the tea. He immediately wished he only put one sugar cube in. Or none at all.

His mouth was overwhelmed with the overly sweet liquid. He tried his best not to make a face.

"How do you like the tea?" Athena inquired.

"Wonderful." Conner tried to give his best smile. Just then the door opened to reveal Dick.

"Hey, Athe-" his eyes widened at the sight before him.

"Not a word." Conner mouthed, but Dick couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your tea party Athena, and Mrs. Nesbit!" he laughed while Conner glared daggers at him.

~*~*~*~*~*~Five Minutes Later~*~*~*~*~*~

"Would you like some more tea Mr. Dick?" Athena inquired, and the man nodded.

Dick was wearing a yellow sun hat with pink flowers covering it.

"Yes please, Ms. Athena." Dick answered. Conner couldn't help but smirk at Dick. It's hard to say no to Athena.

Bruce joined the group a few minutes later.


	14. Beach Day

**This chapter is for SakuraPheonix13 who wanted a beach day :) I hope you enjoy it :)**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

"Robin's such a kill joy." Cassie grumbled as her and Athena swam in the water.

Athena always needed someone with her in the ocean, and Conner was still changing into his swim suit.

"Why do you say that?" Athena inquired, eyeing a wave nervously but then relaxed when she floated over it.

"Well, just _look _at him! He's just sitting on a towel with a laptop under an umbrella! It's like he's a vampire or something!" Cassie exclaimed, and Athena looked over to see Tim, typing on his computer while shaded by the umbrella.

"Robin! Get your butt in here!" Cassie screamed. Tim looked up from his work with a frown.

"I burn in the sun!" he shouted from the beach.

"Stupid creature of the night." Cassie grumbled, then exclaimed, "There's stuff called sun tan lotion!"

"Doesn't mean it works!" Tim shouted back, then went back to his work.

"Kill joy." Cassie mumbled, crossing her arms.

Conner was quickly out in his swim trunks along with Dick, Jamie, Gar, Karen, and Mal.

Athena was happy that she was invited to the Beach day with the team.

"Hola amiga." Jamie smiled as he swam into the water next to her.

"Hola Jamie." Athena smiled.

"Como esta?" he inquired, asking how she was. He remembered teaching Athena some amount of Spanish when she used to live in Mt. Justice.

"Bien. Y tu?" she smiled, saying she was good and asking how he was as well.

"Asi asi. El scarab es muy loco." He informed, saying he was so so, and that the scarab was crazy, which made some sense because the scarab was a constant voice in his head.

"No." he stated, but not at Athena. Clearly the scarab had said something he didn't like.

"Hey girl!" Karen shouted with a wide smile, giving Athena a strong hug. "It's been _forever_!"

"I missed you too." Athena smiled, hugging her back.

"It's great to see you swimming, Stitch." Mal smiled as he swam up next to his girlfriend. Stitch was his nick-name for her since she was so similar to the Disney character.

"Now that everybody's out, I say beach volley ball! Boys vs. Girls!" Cassie exclaimed.

"I think you girls are outmatched. Not to mention, outnumbered." Mal chuckled.

"We don't need numbers!" Karen laughed.

"Yeah, the three of us will _destroy _you guys!" Cassie smiled.

"Three?" Dick questioned, and Cassie wrapped an arm around Athena.

"Yeah. We got Athena! You'll play with us, right?" Cassie questioned, and the girl nodded with a small smile.

"Sure."

"Then let's do it!" Gar exclaimed, and the group headed to the beach for the Volley ball court.

"C'mon Robin!" Jamie smiled, but the boy shook his head.

"I'm good. You guys play without me." he stated. Athena frowned a bit, but followed everyone to the Volley ball court.

Athena didn't know that she was very good at Volley Ball. But once the rules were explained to her, she went at it with her all.

She could add Volley ball to the sports that she enjoyed to play.

Karen, however, was the strongest member of the team. She was a master at spiking the ball, leaving the boys in total shock.

In the end, the girls won by three points.

"They just got lucky." Conner grumbled.

"Luck's got nothing to do with it! GIRL POWER!" Cassie exclaimed, full of energy.

Athena looked over to see that Tim was still typing on his computer contently. She walked over to him as the girls and boys talked about the game.

"What are you doing?" Athena inquired, sitting next to Tim. The boy looked at the girl evenly and informed,

"Working."

"That doesn't sound like much fun." She stated in a flat tone.

"It has to be done." Tim replied, and Athena frowned.

"Does it need to be done _now_, because it's a beach day and it's supposed to be fun." Athena said as she played with the sand in her hand.

Tim looked up at her and sighed.

"Athena…"

"C'mon, Tim. I could use your help with something." She grinned, and the teen exhaled loudly as he closed his laptop.

"Fine. What do you need help with?"

Athena smiled deviously.

~*~*~*~*~*~One Hour Later~*~*~*~*~*~

Once Conner was asleep, he was completely vulnerable. It helped that he was a heavy sleeper for what Athena had in mind.

Tim and the girl moved quickly and silently as they buried Conner in the sand, leaving nothing exposed except for his head.

As Athena was patting down the sand near his neck, she noticed Conner's eyelids start to flutter.

"Run!" she exclaimed, grabbing Tim's hand and sprinting down the beach.

Conner groggily looked around and sighed in aggravation. He _hated_ sand, and he _hated_ when sand was covering him.

"Athena!" he shouted as he struggled out of the sand.

"Go! Go! Go!" Athena shouted, running faster with Tim following from behind.

Tim would never admit it, but he was happy Athena got him to stop working for a moment.


	15. In Over Her Head

**Oh my gosh this is actually pretty long! :D YEAH! Please enjoy, i guess this one is a bit angsty. i dunno.**

**Sorry for the meh-ness of this chapter. Please tell me what you think. :)**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

"Why do you wear those aviator glasses all the time?" Ramon inquired as he, Paige, and Athena sat under a tree at the park.

"Because you can never see my eyes, meaning you never know what I'm thinking, which makes me unpredictable, which means I'm like a ninja, and ninjas are awesome." Paige explained with a smile. Aside from her glasses, Paige was wearing a blue bandana around her long curly strawberry blond hair, a pink shirt and some overalls.

Ramon had on a baseball hat, some jeans and a red t-shirt, while Athena wore jeans, a long sleeved shirt, and boots. Since she was in public, Athena wore her short curly brown wig and brown contacts.

Paige held a notebook and a pen, writing happily as Athena strummed on her new Ukulele that Bruce had gotten her. She was happy to practice strumming on the instrument, and she was a fast learner.

While Paige wrote, and Athena strummed on her Ukulele, Ramon drew.

Usually when Athena and Ramon went to the park, it was very quiet. They did talk, but only some small conversation here or there. However, with Paige along she seemed to never _stop _talking. Ramon didn't know how she was able to focus on writing as she talked.

"So Ray, how did you and 'Thena meet?" Paige inquired. "Was she singing a song and then you heard her voice and then followed it to see her and then you started to sing along with her and then you two started dancing and she was all 'You're a stranger' but she doesn't care because you seem like a cool guy, and then…"

"We met at the Science and History Museum. They were holding an event that we could go to." Ramon informed shortly. "And it's Ramon, not Ray." He corrected.

Paige just smirked at him and noogied his head.

"You're funny, Ray." She giggled.

"Paige, why did you describe Ramon and my meeting as something out of Sleeping Beauty?" Athena inquired as she lazily strummed on her instruments. Paige smiled as she looked at the two.

"Because he likes- OW!" Paige exclaimed as Ramon kicked her leg.

"Sorry, my leg twitches sometimes." Ramon apologized.

"Because he likes what?" Athena inquired, looking at Paige, but Ramon quickly said,

"Because I like music. That's why she thought I'd follow your voice and all that. I like music." Ramon said quickly.

Paige picked up on the sudden shy looks Ramon got when he was with Athena, and she knew what they meant. Sure, Ramon was only nine, but he did have a small crush on Athena. Now, he would never tell her that.

To say "I don't just like you, but I like like you." to a girl was hard for a nine year old.

Before Athena could ask anything else, sirens started to ring and the three looked across the street at the bank.

"A bank robbery?" Ramon questioned.

"A bank robbery during the _day_. This is Gotham City, all robberies happen at night." Paige stated, crossing her arms as if some unspoken law had been broken. She then turned around to look at Athena.

"You should do something!"

"I _can't_. I'm still in training, and I don't even have an alias yet." Athena explained. "Besides, the police can probably handle a bank robbery."

They watched as the police arrived, but the three watched as the occupied police didn't realize that another man was getting away.

"Okay, now _that_ I need to do something about." Athena sighed as she handed her Ukulele over to Ramon. She knew it was wrong to just sit around and let a guy get away.

"Ramon, can I borrow your baseball cap?" Athena inquired, and the boy quickly complied.

Athena stuffed her brown hair from the wig into the baseball cap, then looked at Paige.

"Can I borrow your bandana?" she inquired, and her friend quickly handed the blue piece of fabric over.

Athena quickly tied it around her mouth and knotted it in the back of her head. The bill of the hat shaded her eyes and the bandana covered the rest of her face.

"I'll be back." She said quickly, then ran towards where she saw the other man from the robbery run off to.

Her heart was pounding in her chest and she felt adrenalin rushing through her veins.

She followed the man into an alley way and tackled him to the ground.

"Turn yourself in to the police!" Athena exclaimed as she pulled off the man's black mask, but her eyes widened as she realized who she had just tackled.

The man smiled at her happily.

"I was hoping to drawl out the bats into the day time, but you're new." He chuckled evilly as his green hair glistened in the sun light that was peeking into the alley.

"Y-you're…"

"The Joker, at your service, girly." He laughed as he stood to his feet, and looked down at the girl.

Athena heard stories of the man. She saw some of the things he did on the news, and Bruce had told her about how dangerous he was.

She was in over her head.

Athena was so scared she didn't even know what to do with herself, and all her adrenalin disappeared in a heartbeat.

"Didn't expect to catch _me_, huh kid?" he questioned with a laugh as he started to approach Athena. She took a step back, but then quickly pushed her hands out, sending Joker against the wall.

"A meta huh?" Joker questioned with a smile. "You just made things interesting." He ran at Athena and she threw a punch, which resulted in Joker dodging and punching her in the gut.

He quickly lifted her bandana up and sprayed some gas in her face, then pulled the bandana back down.

Athena coughed several times, expecting to start laughing, however her vision only started to get hazy.

"I might just have some fun with you later on." He laughed as he played around with a knife in his hand, then lifted a groggy Athena up.

"No." she whispered, shaking her head and kicking Joker, sending him flying backward. She staggered to her feet, but leaned against the wall.

"Conner." She whispered. "Conner help." Joker threw a knife at her, but it bounced off her chest. However, the gas was still effecting her.

"Conner I… I need help." She mumbled. "Superboy…"

Joker grabbed her by the neck and pinned her to the wall. Athena was too groggy to do anything about it.

"Little girly wants to be a hero?" Joker questioned with a chuckle. "You do know that some heroes die, right?"

Athena felt the man squeezing her throat, and she was having trouble breathing. She gasped for breath, praying that help would come. She was to groggy to think straight or use her abilities.

Next thing Athena knew, the pressure was off of her throat, and she saw Conner, throwing Joker against the wall, and quickly knocking him out.

"Athena?" he questioned, and the girl looked up at the sound of her name.

Conner was quickly in front of her, and was looking at her with worry.

"I thought he was a… a regular burglar." Athena mumbled. "I didn't know he was… I got scared… I'm not ready to fight. I'm not ready."

Conner sighed. He was upset that Athena went after the guy, but he understood her reasoning behind it.

"The cops will find him here, let's get you out of this alley." Conner whispered as he jumped onto a rooftop and took the bandana off of Athena's face, letting her breath in fresh air.

"Athena, you _have _to understand that you need to train more before you can go out and try to take down people." Conner stated, and Athena nodded.

"I understand. I'm sorry." Conner was just relieved that Athena wasn't hurt. He knew that Joker could have done some unimaginable things to her.

"We're not going to speak of this to anyone else, okay?" Conner questioned, and Athena nodded.

"Okay."

Conner knew that if anyone else were to save her, she would be in trouble. However, he was worried about Superman finding out above anyone else. They had _just _started to get along, and he didn't need Superman to think of her as stupid, or anything else.

Conner took Athena back to the park where she met up with Paige and Ramon.

"What happened, are you okay?" Ramon questioned in concern, quickly running over to Athena.

"Did you kick his butt? Did you throw him against a wall and then toss him around like a rag doll? Did you-"

"I almost died." Athena whispered and her friends looked at her in shock. "I got too scared."

"It's okay, Athena." Ramon said as he gave her a hug.

"Did you save her?" Paige inquired, looking at Conner. The man nodded his head.

"Then thank you." Paige smiled, giving him a hug as well.

Conner patted the girl on the head, but couldn't tear his eyes off of Athena. She looked humiliated almost.

"I shouldn't have done that. I was too scared." Conner heard her say.

"How about I get you guys some ice cream?" Conner suggested quickly, trying to lighten the kid's spirits. He gave Athena a smile and she slowly smiled back.

"None of this happened, alright?" Conner questioned, and the kids nodded.

Athena held Conner's hand as she held Ramon's. Paige stood next to Conner happily talking about something no one practically cared about, but it got everyone's minds off of what happened previously.


	16. Peanuts

**Sorry for this being so short. I just thought of it because my Dad gave me some peanuts today and we had some fun snapping the shells because we never usually get peanuts with the shells. So, Dad, i don't know why you would be reading this, but this really short chapter is for you. :) 3**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces **

"Peanuts?" Conner offered as he and Athena sat in Mt. Justice after a training session, watching Hercules for about the hundredth time.

Athena looked over at Conner's outstretched hand that held a bag of peanuts.

"Thanks." Athena smiled as she took the bag, and Conner opened a bag of his own.

Athena looked at the peanut shell curiously. She never ate peanuts that still had the shell on it.

She shrugged and popped the peanut shell into her mouth and started chewing, however she immediately started coughing, and Conner quickly handed her a glass of water, which she chugged, swallowing the peanut shell and drowning out the scratchy feeling in her throat.

"Did you just try to _eat_ the shell?" Conner questioned, and Athena nodded.

"Yes." She said, her voice a bit raspy. "Are people not supposed to eat the shells?" she inquired, and Conner shook his head.

"Never eat the shells of any nut, okay?" he sighed. Conner was grateful he didn't hand her pistachios.

"How do I eat the peanut?" Athena inquired, staring at the brown shell.

"You just snap it." Conner informed, snapping a peanut shell of his own and digging out the two peanuts.

"Seems like a lot of work for just some peanuts." Athena noted, and Conner shrugged.

"Snapping the shell open makes it more fun." Athena looked down at the peanut in her hands and snapped it open, then at the food inside.

She smiled as snapping sounds were made from the shells cracking, and her and Conner were snapping away at the peanuts.

She then frowned.

"I'm out." She sighed. Conner looked into his bag.

"Me too." He said sadly. The two looked at each other, and Conner stood from the couch and threw on his jacket.

"I'm going out to get more."

"I'll come with you." Athena nodded.

~*~*~*~*~*~Two Hours Later~*~*~*~*~*~

"How many peanuts have you two eaten?" Batgirl, Barbra, questioned in shock when she walked into the living room to find Athena and Conner surrounded by several bags of peanuts.

"I don't know." Athena informed honestly while Conner shrugged,

"I think this is my tenth bag."

"Okay you two, you'll both get sick if you keep this up." Barbra stated, taking both bags away from the two. "No more peanuts for you today."

Conner and Athena looked at their empty hands sadly.

"Aw." They pouted in unison.


	17. Safer Longer

**Please enjoy! :)**

**sorry for the shortness. **

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Conner knew that Superman shouldn't have tried to train her. He blamed himself mostly for not explaining that Athena had some problems if she was talked to in certain ways.

Conner knew that Athena only acted certain ways due to her child abuse, which left her with more than just physical scars. She seemed to have some PTSD of some sort.

Since she lived with them, Batman and Dick understood this as well. Both men had also had to comfort her when she had vivid nightmares, and when she'd start getting scared.

Athena was getting better, but it was hard to simply erase the memories of her first seven years of life and abuse.

Conner walked into the training room right after his mission to see Athena curled up in a ball, sobbing, as Superman knelt awkwardly next to her trying to comfort her.

Clark looked up at Conner, his eyes pleading for help, and Conner was quickly at Athena's side.

"Shhh, Athena." Conner said in a soothing voice, slowly rubbing her back in circles. "Athena, are you hurt?" he questioned in a whisper.

Conner knew that she wasn't, but he needed her to realize that on her own.

Athena slowly lifted her hand, and it was shaking. But she observed her arm, then her other arm.

"Are you hurt, Athena?" Conner repeated patiently.

"N-no." she whispered. "I… it got loud… and I got scared… and I thought…" she broke off her sentence and shook her head.

"You thought what?" questioned Conner in an even tone.

"I thought I was going to get hurt." Athena informed in a small voice.

"But you're not hurt, right?" Conner questioned, and Athena nodded slowly. Her tears had dried and she wasn't shaking as much.

"No. I'm not hurt." She said with a small smile.

"That's great to hear." Conner nodded, smiling back at her. "How about you put on your headphones and relax a bit, okay?"

"Okay." Athena nodded, and ran to her headphones to listen to some music.

"What happened?" Conner inquired.

"I was just trying to push her to do better." Clark informed, and Conner nodded with a sigh.

"Everything you say to her during training has to be encouraging. Trying to push a regular person during training is fine, but Athena needs to be motivated in different ways. The moment you raise her voice, she gets stressed and thinks back to when she was at Cadmus." Conner explained.

"I understand." Clark nodded. "Does she break down often?"

"She was actually doing pretty well, but I think because she's not as close to you as some others, she had a larger reaction." Conner informed.

"Aren't you worried how that will affect her out in the field?" Clark questioned.

"No. Because she is going to be out in the field when she is ready. And if she doesn't get this under control, she isn't ready." Conner explained.

"But don't you want her out in the field soon?" Clark inquired, and Conner shook his head.

"No. I don't want her out there, especially if she isn't ready. We can take our time with her training." Conner stated.

Conner knew that Athena wanted to become a hero, but Conner wanted her out only when she was ready. When she had her fear under control.

If it took years to achieve that, then that was okay by Conner. It kept her safer longer in his view.


	18. Sorry I Couldn't Save You

**This chapter is for theshadowwithinyoursoul who wanted Athena to get hurt by someone. I might have took it in a little bit of a different way, but i hope you like it! :D**

**Please enjoy! :)**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Athena was walking to the corner where she would meet Ramon after his art class. Ramon made sure he was _never _late meeting her no matter what. So when Athena was standing there for about three minutes, she knew that something was wrong.

Athena ran to Ramon's art class but she noticed that he wasn't there.

"Ugh!" she heard a loud grunt in the alley next to the art building and she recognized it as Ramon's voice.

She sprinted into the alley to see the two boys who originally would harass Ramon plus two older boys, beating him.

"Awww, gonna cry, Ramy." One of them taunted, and anger burned in the pit of Athena's stomach.

A little voice in her head warned her about not using her powers, but that didn't mean she could beat them out without her powers.

"Leave him alone!" Athena shouted, getting their attention. The two boys who messed with her before looked apprehensive, but the two older boys looked at her and laughed.

"That's cute, you think that telling us that will actually make us leave him alone." The one smirked as he kicked Ramon in the stomach.

Athena ran to the boy who kicked him and punched him in the face.

The boy glared down at the girl and punched her in the gut. Athena's anger boiled and her eyes started to glow red.

Ramon saw this and his eyes widened.

"Athena, no! Get out of here!" he exclaimed, and her eyes reverted back to normal. Ramon didn't want her to blow her cover.

Athena understood that, but she wasn't going to leave him.

The girl quickly stood and punched the boy again, and he smiled as he whipped the blood from his nose.

"You're much more fun than the Ramon kid. You actually _fight_." He laughed and his friend kneed Athena in the leg, and she grunted in pain. However, she grabbed the guy behind her and flipped him over her back, making him fly into the other boy.

The rest was all a blur.

Athena caught a fist that flew at her face while trying to keep her abilities at bay. She punched a boy on the side, but then her Super hearing went off.

"no." Athena grunted. _No! No! No! No! This is the worst time for this to go off! _Athena thought with frustration and voices flooded through her ears and she was trying to concentrate on something to block out the noises, but she couldn't. especially when the boys saw that she was hurt and they had an opening.

Athena was on the ground, covering her ears as she felt kick after kick hit her.

She wanted to use her telekinesis to just push them all away, or for her to fly to safety, but she needed to keep her cover.

She was in pain from her ears, and she was in pain from being kicked. Ramon saw the blood from her ears and his eyes widened.

"Athena, listen to my voice. Just my voice. It'll be okay Athena." As he continued to talk he tried to punch one of the boys, but he was easily pushed back down.

"Athena, just listen to me, it will be okay." He kept babbling, trying to give Athena something to listen to, and he was too beaten to get back up and get help.

"GET AWAY FROM MY KIDS!" The boys looked up to see a smaller Puerto Rican woman, but she was an adult figure none the less.

Ramon's Mother, Indira.

While the boys Ramon's age looked scared, the older boys just laughed.

"And why should we listen to you?" Indira walked over to the boy, her eyes blazing with anger and when one of the older boys went to push her away she connected a solid punch to the boy's jaw, knocking him out.

She then grabbed the other older boy by his shirt, and pinned him to the wall.

"You try to hurt my boy again and I will hurt you more than you could ever _dream_. The same goes for his friend, because she is under my protection too." Indira opened up her jacket and pointed to a gun.

"Do you understand?" she questioned, and the boy had tears in the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah yeah! I understand! Let me go!" he exclaimed in terror and Indira complied. The boy stumbled a bit, and then ran off followed, by the two other boys. The boy who she knocked out was still on the ground.

"Mom, Athena's hurt!" Ramon exclaimed, and Indira knelt in front of the girl. The girl flinched at all the sounds, and Ramon realized her super hearing was still in effect.

"Just focus on my voice, Athena. You'll be okay. We're gonna take you home, just focus on my voice." Athena did and since she was getting beaten, it was easier to focus.

"Are you okay, Ramon?" she questioned slowly, and Ramon sighed.

"Just a bruise here or there." Athena's body may have been invincible, but she was _covered _in bruises everywhere, and some blood was still seeping from her ears.

Indira was furious, but she forced herself to calm down, and she gingerly lifted Athena up.

"We should take her to her home." Indira informed and she and Ramon walked to their home and climbed into the car.

Indira drove her small car to Wayne Manor and was quickly in front of the tall building.

Indira and Ramon never had been inside the Manor, but they were too worried about Athena to care.

Ramon knocked on the giant door and it was promptly answered by the butler, Alfred.

"My word." His eyes widened when he saw Athena.

"Please, come in, come in." he said quickly, rushing to get his small first aid kit.

Dick walked into the room, and he looked at Indira in shock.

"Ramon, Mrs. Colón, what happened?" he questioned, and Alfred quickly was downstairs along with Bruce.

"These group of boys were beating me up." Ramon informed. "Then Athena came and tried to get them to leave me alone." He shook his head. "it's my fault. If I got away or something then she wouldn't be hurt. She didn't want to use her powers… she couldn't defend herself against all of them. Well… maybe she could, but then her super hearing went off and she was in pain and she was getting kicked, but then mom came and she knocked one of the guys out and then said something I couldn't hear to the other boy, and then they ran off." Ramon said quickly, then looked at Alfred, panicked.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"She should be fine, young man." Alfred nodded. "No bones appear to be broken, she only has heavy bruising, and the ear bleeding is from when her hearing was sensitive." Alfred informed calmly. He then gave Ramon a once over with his eyes.

"However, you, young man, may be more injure than she is." Alfred gently examined Ramon, looking at the bruises and cuts.

He disinfected Ramon's cuts and then bandaged his right wrist and right ankle. He also bandaged his rib cage. He supposed that several ribs were fractured, and he advised that Ramon go to the hospital.

Ramon was too concerned about Athena to even think about his pain.

Even though Athena took more of a beating than Ramon, her abilities kept her safe.

"I'll pay for whatever injuries he has." Bruce stated.

"Thank you, Mr. Wayne." Indira said quietly. She was relieved that Athena was alright, yet worried that the bullies would come to Ramon again. Yes, she did threaten them, but she knew that sometimes threats were ignored. She really had no desire to kill anyone. She hated when she had to kill people due to their own stupidity.

"I'll call Conner. She'll probably want to see him." Dick stated.

Athena was quiet the entire time. she had a look of pain and guilt on her face.

Conner was there in less than a heartbeat.

Indira and Ramon were there as well. Ramon refused to go to the hospital until he was sure that Athena was alright.

"I heard you got hurt." Conner whispered as he sat next to Athena, who was lying on the couch.

She was silent.

"It's okay that you got hurt, Athena. it happens, and it was very brave of you to try to help your friend, knowing you couldn't use your powers."

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm so sorry, Ramon." Conner looked over at the boy, and Ramon raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you sorry?" Ramon inquired. Athena's face held such _guilt_.

"I wasn't able to help you." Athena whispered. "I tried, but they beat me, and once they were done with me… they would have gone after you again." She informed.

"Athena, it's okay. Those guys were tough, and your super hearing got in the way. It's not your fault they hurt me. It's _my_ fault, Athena. I can't defend myself, and I look like a target."

Conner shook his head.

"It was neither of your faults." He stated. "Stop blaming yourselves. It was the boys. The boys were the ones who attacked you both. So don't go blaming yourselves and know that there was nothing you could do to prevent this." He informed.

He kissed Athena on the forehead, and turned to look at Ramon.

"If anyone starts to beat you up again, scream my name, and I'll hear you. Okay?" The boy nodded, and Conner smiled.

"Alright. Now, you better get to the hospital."

~*~*~*~*~*~Two Days Later~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Someone beat you two up?" Paige questioned when she saw Athena and Ramon. Athena had some lingering bruises, but Ramon was heavily wrapped in galls.

"We gotta find them! Those stupid boys! I'll get cousin Wally to come and he can tie their shoelaces together and they'd fall on their faces, and then his girlfriend Artemis could shoot arrow at them and then they'd cry and we all would laugh because they're a bunch of babies with nothing better to do then pick on other people, then I'd kick them in the nuts, which my mom says in mean to say but I would do it because they would deserve to get kicked there, and then I'd spit in their faces because spit is gross and they would deserve it, and then maybe Wally and Artemis would spit in their faces because they are stupid, and then maybe you two could both spit in their faces too, and then maybe they would drown in all the spit because they deserved it…"

Paige didn't have to worry about finding the boys. Because they never harassed Ramon or Athena again. They were too afraid of Indira.

Indira was the equivalent to a mother bear, and _nobody _messed with her cubs.


	19. History Mystery Gift

**I do not own the song in this. Also, i guess this is kinda for my mom. I don't know why she'd by reading this, but Mom, this one's for you for your lullabyes, awesome parenting, and your walking fortune cookie-ness. **

**Please enjoy :)**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Conner was _beyond_ nervous.

When Superman, Clark, had told him that he wanted to spend more time with Athena, Conner was perfectly okay with the idea.

When Clark told him that he wanted to bring Athena to Kansas for a week, that made Conner more uneasy.

"I think it will be a good time for us to bond. Plus she can meet Ma and Pa, and I know that they will love her." Clark explained, and Conner sighed.

"You just need to know… she get scared _very_ easily. I mean, she has been getting better at it, but she's been though a lot."

"Well, what do I need to know?" Clark questioned. Conner paused a moment to think. Clark was serious about this, so he _needed_ to know how to handle Athena for a week.

"Well, she has some sort of PTSD. If you try to put her under a lot of pressure she sometimes breaks down. If you yell at her, or so much as raise your voice, she will get scared and sometimes break down. She often has bad dreams. When she does have a bad dream, she likes to eat saltine crackers and she needs someone to comfort her until she falls asleep again. She likes whipped cream, that you know. Do _not_ let her watch horror movies. It _doesn't _end well. She loves animals, especially bears and sea otters."

"Why bears and sea otters?" Clark questioned.

"Because Bears are strong and not to be underestimated, and Otters are cute." Conner answered, then went on.

"She loves her turtle, Minerva. But you have to act like Minerva is a lady not an 'it' and especially not a boy. She loves Ralph, her teddy bear, and sometimes talks to him. And Athena has yet to get her super hearing under control, and it sometimes kicks in and it causes her a lot of pain. When this happens, you have to talk to her and give her something to concentrate on, and if that doesn't work, have her put on headphones and listen to Elvis music, Elvis music usually calms her down. But just… she needs to be… handled with care." Conner sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"She has been getting better, but we're taking small steps."

"I understand." Clark nodded. "And I _will _take care of her. I want to spend time with her. She is my daughter too."

Conner nodded.

"Alright. Just talk to Bruce about…"

"I already have, and he said that I could take Athena with me to Kansas. But he did suggest talking to you." Clark smiled. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of her, and I will call you if anything happens that I need help with."

Conner nodded, but still couldn't help but be nervous.

~*~*~*~*~*~The Next Day~*~*~*~*~*~

Athena stared at the Kent Farm, nervous about what would happen next.

"Athena, are you alright?" Clark questioned, noting the worried look on the girl's face.

She looked up at him, pushing the black strands of hair out of her face.

Clark told her that she could go without her disguise in Smallville.

"I… I'm alright." She said in a small voice. Clark placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, trying to give her an encouraging smile, and walked up to the door, knocking on it gently.

It quickly opened to reveal a small woman with graying hair, and a taller man with broad shoulders.

"Hello son!" the man beamed, hugging Clark right away and the woman was quickly hugging the boy too.

She then brushed aside some of the hair on Clark's head that got messed up.

"Have you been eating right, dear?" she questioned with worry.

"I'm fine, Ma." Clark smiled, then pushed Athena, who had inched backwards, up to his adopted parents.

"Ma, Pa, this is Athena. Athena, this is Ma, and Pa." Clark introduced.

"H-hello." Athena said quietly with a small smile, but the two people beamed happily at her, and the woman was instantly hugging her.

"We have heard so much about you, honey." She smiled.

"Y-you have?" Athena inquired.

"Of course we have, Clark talks about you a lot." Pa Kent said with pride. "You're practically our granddaughter."

Athena's eyes widened at that. _More_ family. She cherished the fact that she had such a large family, but she had no qualms about adding people. And she never had grandparents before.

~*~*~*~*~*~Four Days Later~*~*~*~*~*~

Clark didn't know how Conner did it.

This was the fourth night in a row that Athena woke up sobbing from a nightmare, and Clark was trying not to get frustrated.

He sighed, hearing her sobs from his room, and stood from the bed.

"Clark, go back to sleep." Clark saw Ma Kent standing in the doorway.

"But Ma…"

"I'll handle it, honey." She smiled, and Clark went straight back to bed, not wanting to debate with Ma Kent.

Ma walked into Athena's room and sat on the edge of the girl's bed.

"I-I'm so-rry to wake you up." Athena said through her tears.

"It's alright honey, I was already awake." Ma lied, smiling at the girl. "Did you have a bad dream?" she inquired, and Athena nodded her head.

She shook, trying to forget her dream, but the more she tried to forget, the more the images flashed through her head, making her cry harder.

Ma Kent wrapped her arms around Athena, and started to soothingly stroke her hair.

"**Baby mine, don't you cry**

**Baby mine, dry your eyes**

**Rest your head close to my heart**

**Never to part, baby of mine."**

Athena calmed down as she listened to Ma Kent sing. It calmed her and slowly the terrifying images in her head faded away and only Ma Kent's voice resonated in her mind.

She fell asleep in Ma's arms, feeling warm and calm.

~*~*~*~*~*~The Next Day~*~*~*~*~*~

Clark hoped that he and Athena could bond more by fishing.

Sure, she had warmed up to Ma and Pa. She had often helped Ma in the kitchen, and she loved cutting firewood and working around the farm with Pa. However, he still felt like there was a gap between himself and the girl.

So, he thought fishing would be a good idea.

"So…" Clark started. He knew that being quiet when fishing was usually a good idea, but Athena took the task seriously and didn't say a word. She was staring intently on her line, waiting for a tug so she could reel in a fish.

Pa had taken her fishing two days prior and she was a fast learner.

"So… I heard some kids hurt you a few days ago… how exactly did you get bruises when your bones and skin are invincible?" he questioned, but then scolded himself immediately afterwards.

_Nice Clark. Ask her about how she got beat up. Real nice conversation. _He thought sarcastically.

"It's strange." Athena answered in a low voice, so that she wouldn't scare the fish. "Bruce thinks it's because since I'm not one hundred percent invincible, I can still manage to have some internal bleeding, like getting bruises, while my skin and bones stay strong." She informed.

"So something could kill you from the inside?" Clark questioned, but once again regretted it. No doubt she'd have nightmares about that.

"I guess." Was her short answer, still very quiet. The fish weren't biting much due to the time of day and how shallow the part of the river they were at, but Athena was still staring at her line intently.

"So, how's your friend, Ramon?" he inquired.

"He's still getting better from getting beaten up." Athena informed stiffly. She was still upset with herself that she couldn't have helped him sooner.

"And how about you're new friend, Patricia?"

"Paige." Athena corrected. "And she is alright. She wants to drown the bullies who attacked Ramon and I in spit."

"Uh… huh." Clark nodded slowly. Clark didn't know what else to say, and was silent.

"Do you like fishing?" Athena questioned.

"Not that much." Clark informed, and Athena nodded, then started to reel her line in.

"Then we shouldn't be fishing." She stated. "What do you like to do?"

"I… uh… like bird watching." He informed.

"Then we should do that." Athena said as she packed away her hook from the rod.

~*~*~*~*~*~Two Hours Later~*~*~*~*~*~

"I didn't know this is what you meant by bird watching." Athena informed as her and Clark floated in the air with bird flying all around.

"I think it's more fun." Clark shrugged with a small smile. "You know, you can get closer to the birds."

"No, I'm good at this distance." Athena informed quickly. She didn't like birds. She didn't mind looking at them, but she didn't like the possibility of them landing on her.

"Look at that Red Tailed Hawk." Clark smiled in excitement, pointing to the bird, and Athena smiled.

"She's beautiful." Athena grinned, looking at the bird.

Despite her dislike of birds, she still loved animals, and she didn't mind viewing the bird much. And she really did think that the Red Tailed Hawk was beautiful. She didn't get to see many large birds in Gotham. Well… besides Robin.

Athena and Clark landed on the ground, and the man quickly lifted her onto his shoulders, and started to leisurely walk to the Kent's Farm.

"Clark?"

"Yes?"

"Did you really shun Conner for a while?" Clark wasn't expecting that question.

"Yes… I did." He informed quietly.

"Do you not like biological children?" she inquired.

"I… don't think so. I like biological children." He answered.

"So what was wrong with Conner and I?" Clark sighed.

"Nothing was _wrong _with you two… it's just…" he ran his hand over his face. "It's hard to explain, Athena. I wasn't expecting you two."

"So… you didn't want us at first?" Athena questioned. She didn't sound sad, only curious.

"It… well… yes." Clark said in a whisper, but Athena could hear him. "But, I'm happy I have you know, both of you. I would never want you or Conner to leave." He informed quickly.

"You know, I hated you for a while." Athena said as she played with the random curls in Clark's dark hair.

"Hated me?"

"Yes." Athena nodded. "I didn't want to, but I did. I was angry at you for thinking of me as a project. I was angry at you for a lot of things, but that was my biggest issue." She sighed. "I wanted everyone to see me as a person, and if not everyone, than only the people I really cared about. I really cared about what you thought of me because you are one of my _Dads_. And as a Dad, I wanted you to be proud of me, or at least see me as human." She informed, and Clark felt his heart sink.

He really did treat Athena terrible.

"I see you as human _now_." Clark stated firmly. "And I love you." He said seriously.

"I love you too." Athena smiled.

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift." Clark smiled, remembering what Ma had told him when he was little.

"That is why we call it the present." Athena finished, and Clark chuckled.

"Sounds like you have been spending a lot of time with Ma."

~*~*~*~*~*~Several Days Later~*~*~*~*~*~

"So it went well?" Conner questioned with some worry. Clark smiled and nodded.

"It was great." He said, and then placed a hand on Conner's shoulder. "I have to say, I don't know how you are able to do it with those nightmares though. Ma was the only one who could get her to sleep afterwards." He informed.

"It just takes practice, I guess." Conner shrugged, and Clark shook his head.

"Or maybe it just takes a good parent."


	20. Defense

**This is for mini ninja 132 who wanted Ramon to get self defense lessons from Black Canary :)**

**Also, i made a sequel to The Failed Project called Inner Demons! :D**

**And this is random, but the little picture in the corner of this story is Athena! I don't have much artistic talent, but it's still Athena. :) **

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces **

"Mom?" Athena questioned in a small voice as she walked over to Black Canary. She looked a bit nervous.

"What is it, honey?" Black Canary questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Well… I have a friend named Ramon. Ramon knows about how I have powers and everything, and he's a real good friend. I have been spending a lot of time with him, and…"

"Athena, it's okay. Everyone goes through this." Black Canary took a deep breath. "You see, Athena, when we get these type of feelings for someone…"

"What feelings?" Athena inquired.

"The ones that you feel towards Ramon."

"The feeling that… I want him to learn how to defend himself?" Athena questioned slowly, confused.

"Wait. What did you want to ask me?" Black Canary inquired.

"If you could teach Ramon self-defense." Athena answered, but then looked at the woman, puzzled. "What did you…"

"Of course I'll teach your friend self-defense. I'm your mom, that's what I do. Self-defense. Yes. I will teach him. How about you bring him over to the studio Friday. Okay? Okay. I have to go now honey, bye." Black Canary said quickly, kissing Athena on the cheek, then running off.

Athena was still slightly confused about what Black Canary started to say, but she was happy that Ramon was going to learn self-defense. It worried her how her friend was so weak and fragile (no offense to him, but it was true.) and she didn't want him to get hurt if she wasn't around.

Athena smiled, proud of herself for getting her Mom to help her out with Ramon. He was going to need all the help he could get.

~*~*~*~*~*~That Friday~*~*~*~*~*~

"Athena, why didn't you ask Bruce to help teach him self-defense? He only needs the basics, nothing ninja-esc." Black Canary questioned as she watched Ramon start to double tie his shoes so they wouldn't come off.

"Bruce scares him… a lot." Athena informed honestly. Just then a short shout rung out from Ramon as he ran behind Athena, pointing at the ground.

"There's a spider! There is a really big spider!" his voice was high and panicked while Athena calmly walked over to the spider and let it crawl in her hand.

"Athena, don't let it bite you." Ramon whispered, as if the spider could hear him."

"Invincible skin, remember?" Athena stated with a small smile, and she easily opened a window and let the spider crawl outside.

"I see Bruce isn't the only thing he's afraid of." Black Canary mumbled, then took in a deep breath.

"Alright Ramon. Let's begin you training."

~*~*~*~*~*~Thirty Minutes Later~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ay Dios Mio." Ramon groaned, sweat dripping from his face.

"Ramon, you just did the basics. It's not that hard." Athena informed nonchalantly.

"Not that hard? Punching that bag made me feel like I was going to break my fist." Ramon stated, and Athena shrugged.

"Drink more milk?" she suggested and Ramon just groaned again.

"Ramon… I just want to help you. I don't want you to get hurt if I'm not there." Athena informed in a small voice, but Ramon saw how serious she looked.

She was having him do it for his own good. Because she _cared_ for him.

"Thank you, Athena." he said with a small smile. Athena beamed at him and wrapped her strong arms around his small frame, hugging him tightly.

Ramon breathed heavily, but didn't say anything, accepting the hug.

Black Canary watched as the two hugged, and she found it interesting how Ramon didn't try to break away from her.

Despite the mild discomfort her seemed to have, he was also smiling softly.

Athena had a big smile on her face as she continued to hug the boy, obviously happy.

"Conner should be coming over to pick you two up and take you back home." Black Canary informed, and Athena pulled away from the hug, letting Ramon breath.

Canary would have taken the two home as well, but she had watch tower duty.

"Thank you, Ms. Canary, for teaching me." Ramon said with a smile.

"Not a problem, Ramon. Work on your punches more. Your boney knuckles could do a lot of damage." She smiled.

Conner walked into the room and Athena ran up to him, giving him a tight hug.

"Hi Conner!" she said happily, and the teen gave her a short hug.

"Hey Athena. Hello Ramon." The clone waved to the boy, who shyly waved back.

"Thank you, Black Canary." Conner grinned, and the woman smiled at him kindly.

"Not a problem, Conner. Feel free to drop by sometime. We haven't practiced on your left hook in a while." She informed with a grin.

"I'll try to set up a time." Conner smiled, then walked back to the car with Athena and Ramon.

"So, how was it?" Conner inquired.

"It was good." Ramon nodded. "I think I can actually stand a chance against bullies." He informed with a small smile on his face.

"Do you two want to get ice cream to celebrate?" Conner inquired with a smile. Of course the kids wouldn't turn the offer down.

Conner watched as Ramon and Athena eat their ice cream.

"Want to try my chocolate? It's really good." Athena said with a smile, and Ramon nodded.

"Sure, thanks." He smiled, licking at the ice cream.

"Want some of my vanilla?" he inquired, and Athena nodded happily, also taking a lick.

Conner wouldn't admit it out loud, but he worried about Ramon and Athena. They were good friends.

He couldn't help but think that he and M'gann were good friends once too.


	21. The Return of OPEFA at an Amusement Park

**This chapter is for the wonderful SakuraPheonix13 because she wanted Ramon and Athena going to an Amusement park together :)**

**Please enjoy!**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Conner blames Dick. It was Dick's fault that he was so paranoid. It was Dick's fault that he started to worry about Ramon and Athena together. It was Dick's fault that he learned how to act on these paranoid feelings by stalking. No, he wasn't stalking, he was O.P.E.F.A…ing.

"Come on, Ramon. Let's go on the Ferris wheel!" Athena exclaimed, swinging her and Ramon's clasped hands happily.

It was Ramon's idea to go to the amusement park, but he really didn't like rides too much. To be honest, he hated most of them.

However, he found out that Athena had never been to an amusement park, and he knew that she would most likely enjoy it.

That was why he asked Athena if she wanted to go to the amusement park with him for the day. Of course she said yes.

Athena was quick to point out things on the ground while Ramon's grip on her hand tightened. He was afraid of heights, but he wanted to go on the ride with her because… well… because he wanted to be with her. He wanted to see her happy. And that Ferris wheel did make her happy.

"Look at that, Ramon!" she exclaimed pointing to a popcorn stand on the ground. Ramon looked as quickly as possible, because he hated looking at the ground while in the sky, then smiled at Athena.

"Cool." He said shortly, trying not to have a panic attack. Athena brought out the brave side in him, considering she was the only one who could get him to do things that absolutely terrified him.

"Maybe we could have some popcorn after the ride." Athena smiled.

"Yeah." Ramon nodded. _If we survive the ride. Dear God, please let us survive this ride and not die. _He thought.

"He looks terrified." Conner muttered. Was it horrible that the fact that Athena was making the boy scared was also making Conner laugh?

Conner didn't think so.

The Ferris wheel slowed down and Conner watched as Athena and Ramon walked out of the box they were in.

Conner smirked at Ramon's face, which practically screamed, _"THANK GOD! LAND!"_

Athena didn't even notice how terrified her friend was and skipped over to the Popcorn stand, still holding Ramon's hand.

Conner didn't like how Athena held Ramon's hand so contently. Sure, she held _everyone's _hand, but he still didn't like it.

"Step right up! Win a prize!" one of the men at a booth smiled, trying to get people to play his game.

Ramon looked at the plush toys that he could win and smiled at himself. He was going to win a prize for Athena.

It was a game where you would aim a water shooter gun at a target to make the ball rise and whoever got to the top would win.

Ramon had a steady hand, and he knew he would be able to get the prize for Athena.

"I'm gonna play this, alright?" Ramon questioned, and Athena nodded.

"Okay."

Conner's eyes widened. No way was he going to let Ramon win Athena a prize! He needed to make Ramon loose. Thank God he was in one of Dick's many disguises. Conner ran over and threw down his own money to play.

All the seats were filled and the bell rang, sounding the beginning of the game.

At first, Ramon was in the lead, but Conner was shortly behind.

Conner's focus was entirely on Ramon's ball, as he tried to beat him. When he pulled into the lead, Conner felt pride as he tried to stay ahead of Ramon.

He was so close to winning when the bell rang.

_Oh well. _Conner thought. _Ramon still didn't get Athena a prize. _Conner thought with pride.

"Look Ramon!" Athena smiled as she ran up to Ramon with a plush animal in her hand. "I won this for you." She handed the toy over to Ramon, and the boy smiled slightly.

"Thank you, Athena." Ramon smiled, and the two held hands and Ramon continued to be terrified by the rides Athena had him accompany her on.

Conner sighed as he watched them. He knew he should have brought Dick along.

~*~*~*~*~*~Several Feet Away~*~*~*~*~*~

"No. Don't hold hands. She's too young to hold your hand." Dick mumbled as he watched Athena and Ramon from a park bench.

Once again, he was under cover as a woman.

"She is _hot_." Dick heard a voice say from behind him. He turned around to see a group of boys staring at him. However, he recognized one of them.

"Oh my God, Dick?!" Tim exclaimed, eyes wide, and the man sprinted away in his high heels.

_Tim's just jealous because I borrowed his dress. _


	22. Mother's Day

**This chapter is for Cat That Roared who wanted some mother daughter bonding with Athena. Sorry if it didnt come out the way you wanted.**

**And also, many thanks to SakuraPheonix13 who drew the wonderful picture of Athena! :)**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Athena slowly walked over to Bruce, who was eating some breakfast. She looked a bit nervous.

"Father?" she questioned in a small voice. Bruce looked over at the girl. He saw how tense she looked, and gave Athena a gentle smile.

"Yes, Athena?"

"Do you know what Wonder Woman and Black Canary are doing today?" she inquired.

"I believe Wonder Woman is off planet, and Black Canary is currently on an undercover mission. Why?" he questioned.

Athena looked slightly disappointed, but it only flashed passed her face for a second, and she quickly smiled at Bruce.

"It doesn't matter. May I have some breakfast?" she inquired.

Bruce looked at her, and Athena couldn't place exactly what the look was. He didn't look angry, but he didn't look happy either.

"Alfred made you a plate already." He informed as he pointed to the chair next to his, where Athena's plate was.

Athena climbed up on the chair and smiled at the sight of Alfred's home cooked Waffles with blue berries over it.

"Alfred makes the best Waffles." Athena said with a small smile.

"Athena, why did you want to know what Wonder Woman and Black Canary were doing today?" Bruce questioned, his eyes locking with Athena.

Athena couldn't lie to Bruce. It was _impossible._ She didn't think anybody could lie to him. And if they did lie, she knew that they wouldn't be able to get away with it.

"I got them things… and I was hoping to give it to them and spend the day with them." She said quietly frowning a bit, but then smiled. "But it's okay."

"Why today?" Bruce questioned. Athena looked down at her lap.

"It's nothing." She said quietly.

"Obviously, it isn't." Bruce stated. "Athena, why today?" he questioned again. Bruce kept his voice calm. He knew how Athena just pulled away the more someone pushed and raised their voice.

"It's Mother's Day." Athena whispered, still looking at her lap. Bruce's eyes widened, and he placed a hand on Athena's shoulder.

"You wanted to spend some time with them?" Bruce questioned, but he knew the answer. Athena nodded, and Bruce lifted her off of the chair and gave her a small hug.

"It's alright, Athena. I know what you can do."

~*~*~*~*~*~Several Weeks Later~*~*~*~*~*~

Dinah sighed in relief as she entered her home.

Being undercover in Tibet wasn't that much fun for her. Especially when it was winter and she was being followed by the Russian Mob and the what not. Tibet was supposed to be peaceful, but instead she got shot at. Not fun.

_I need to call Ollie. A night out with him sounds good. _

Her eyes rested on the mail that was on the table. She groaned and then made her way to the pile.

"Bill. Bill. Bill. Bill." She sighed as she looked through each envelope. "Bi- No…" she raised an eyebrow and looked at the envelope in her hand.

"Gotham, New Jersey? Who's mailing me from…" her eyes widened when she saw the word _Mom_ written on the envelope.

She quickly opened it up, and her heart broke when she saw the 'Happy Mother's Day' Card.

And it wasn't store bought. No, it was a handmade card. And on top of that, Athena made a bracelet for her. A small simple bracelet that had the colors black, blue, and yellow braided around, but it was cute.

"Ollie can wait." She mumbled as she stood and grabbed her jacket.

~*~*~*~*~*~Elsewhere~*~*~*~*~*~

Diana was happy to be on Earth again. Being out in space made her a bit home sick.

She looked through her mail and her eyes widened when she saw the home made Mother's Day Card with a red, white, and blue bracelet.

"Athena." she said gently with a small smile, then was quickly headed out the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~In Gotham The Next Day~*~*~*~*~*~

Athena smiled happily as she held both of her mother's hands, walking to one of Dinah's favorite Japanese restaurants.

"Happy belated Mother's Day." Athena grinned and both women, hugged the girl.

Both women also wore their bracelets.


	23. Sister Goddesses

**Sorry for taking awhile to update! Writer's block has been killing me!**

**This chapter is for YJ and HG Rocks. i hope you enjoy and please tell me what you think :)**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Conner patted Athena's back as tears streaked her face. He himself was having trouble not crying.

Artemis was dead. She had been killed by Black Manta, otherwise known to Conner and the team as the former Aqualad, Kaldur'am.

Conner hoped that the new wouldn't hit Athena hard, but no matter how he tried to cushion it, Athena was crushed.

When he first told her, she stared at him for a few moments in disbelief. Then the look of disbelief melted away and then after about ten seconds she started sobbing.

Conner knew that he had to take her to the funeral, but Athena's tears never seemed to decrease.

Athena spent a few days with Wally and Artemis once, and deemed the two the most hilarious couple in the world. They argue and fought, but in the end, ended up making kissy faces at each other.

They treated Athena great too.

_"Dude, she's so cute." Wally smiled as Dick introduced Athena to the man._

_ "I just need you to watch over her for a while. The league and the team are very… busy, at the moment. _

_ "No problem bro, Artemis and I totally got this." The red-head smiled. Dick grinned and handed Wally a list of things that he needed to know._

_ "This should help with looking after her." Dick informed. "If there's any trouble, call the number at the bottom. That will immediately contact Alfred." _

_ "Understood." Wally nodded. Dick knelt down in front of Athena._

_ "You're gonna be okay, Athena. These people are awesome, not to mention that Wally is my best friend. Be good, okay?" _

_ "Alright, Nii-san." Athena nodded. Dick kissed her forehead, then ruffled her hair. _

_ "Bye guys."_

_ "Bye Bro." Wally smiled._

_ "Bye Nii-san." Athena waved, then turned to look at Wally after Dick was out of sight and the man closed the door._

_ "It's nice to meet you, Wally." She grinned, and the boy chuckled. _

_ "Nice to meet you too, 'Thena. My cousin talks about you all the time at family reunions." He smiled. It took Athena a moment to remember that Paige was Wally's little cousin._

_ "Paige is great." Athena grinned, but her heart deflated slightly, already missing Paige and Ramon. _

_ "Well, c'mon in. No need to be shy." He smiled, seeing the small sadness in Athena's eyes. "I'll give you the tour of the house." _

_ Wally walked into various rooms, also showing Athena the guest room, which would be the room she'd be staying in. _

_ "This is our dog. We call him spitfire, but he really responds to anything." Wally smiled when Athena's face brightened and her and the dog got along great. Especially since Athena found that spot behind Spitfire's ear that made the dog happily thump his leg. _

_ "Wally, I'm home." Artemis called as she walked in through the door, and Wally quickly sped over and pecked the woman on the cheek, which she made sure to return. _

_ "You must be Athena." she grinned once Athena caught up to Wally. _

_ "Hello Artemis. It's nice to meet you." Athena grinned. _

_ The several days Athena spent with them were fun. Wally joked around, and Artemis showed her how to shoot a bow and arrow. Athena wasn't the best when it came to accuracy in archery, but she was able to get the arrow to at least hit a target, whether that be the spot on the target furthest from the bulls eye, or a near bye tree. _

_ She also had one of her hearing problems, which Artemis was easily able to handle and help her through. _

_ "Hey, Athena, did you read up on any Greek mythology?" Artemis inquired one day while they were relaxing, looking up at the sky and telling each other what shape they thought the clouds resembled. _

_ "A little. Why?" the young girl questioned curiously. _

_ "Did you know that the goddesses Athena and Artemis were sisters?" Athena looked over at Artemis and smiled. _

_ "Really?" Artemis nodded with a small smile on her face._

_ "Yup." They smiled at each other, and then Artemis took Athena out to get some ice cream, leaving Wally to complain about how they didn't get him any. _

_ It was a small unspoken secret that Athena and Artemis saw each other as sisters. It never needed to be said, because each saw the other as a sisters. And that was all that mattered. _

"I can't believe she's gone." Athena whispered, and Conner patted her back, trying to sooth her.

"Me neither." He whispered sadly.

Athena didn't like the funeral. She didn't like crying with all the people around, but she wasn't the only one in tears.

That night, when Conner took her home since Dick had to do something, Conner made sure to tuck her in before he left for Mt. Justice.

"Conner… she can't… she can't really be gone. Can she?" Athena whispered. Conner sat on the side of her bed and sighed.

"Athena, some people, some _good_ people, sometimes pass away. There's nothing you can do about it, but remember them." He informed.

"I didn't get to spend a lot of time with Artemis." Athena whispered. "But when I did… she really was like a big sister." Conner handed Athena a tissue for her to blow her nose on, and patted her head.

"how about I tell you some stories about Artemis. Alright?" he questioned, and the girl nodded.

"Okay. Well, There was this one mission that Artemis and Zantanna had on Halloween…"


	24. Stars

**I Hope you enjoy this chapter! :) Sorry it's short, and also sorry for not updating as much. School's been getting in the way of my writing, but i'm trying. **

**Please enjoy and tell me what you think! :)**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Athena and Ramon sat side by side on top of the boy's roof. It was something the two would do to relax and look out at the city. They would take in the murky streets and the dark towers that looked like giants standing in the distance. However, Athena always seemed to be looking at the sky.

Ramon told her that one day he'd take her to a place where the sky was clear enough to see stars. He said that he'd show her all the constellations that he knew, but for the time being, Ramon drew her pictures.

Athena liked the stars. She used to look up at them when she was living at Mt. Justice, and she talked about how her and Conner used to watch some meteorite showers. Ramon would paint star pictures just for her, due to how much she liked them.

However, in Gotham city, there were no stars. Only clouds and smog.

Yet Athena didn't mind. She just enjoyed spending time with Ramon, no matter what they were doing.

"Ramon?" the girl questioned in a small voice, breaking the long silence that was between the two. Her mouth was in a small frown and her eyes were wide, which struck Ramon as wrong because she was often smiling, and her eyes were never that wide. Her face just looked different than when Ramon was used to seeing.

"Yeah, Athena?" Ramon inquired, tilting his head to the side with some curiosity. Along with her face, her voice sounded different than it usually did as well, but Ramon couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"I'm…" Athena took in a deep breath. "I'm afraid." She whispered, finding it hard to say the words out loud. "Bruce is going to have this gala thingy and a lot of really powerful and important people are going to be there."

"Well, you've been to one of those things before. And that guy who hurt you won't be there this time." Ramon said with a reassuring smile, trying to conciliate his friend. Unfortunately, she looked _very_ scared and nervous. Her voice was tight when she spoke.

"Yes, but Lex Luthor is going to be there. And Conner _and_ Superman told me that he is a very bad man. And I don't feel like I belong with those other rich people. And last time someone _kidnapped _me. And… and I really don't want to go."

Ramon's eyes widened when he saw the tears gathering in the corners of Athena's eyes. Her situation didn't sound that bad to him, but to Athena it must have seemed terrifying in order to make her cry.

The boy wrapped his thin arms around Athena in a hug.

"It'll be okay, Athena. It won't be that bad. You just need to stay away from that Luthor guy, and you won't be kidnapped. And you could always talk to Dick if you don't feel like you fit in."

Athena was quiet, and Ramon knew that there was something she wasn't telling him. something else that was scaring her.

Ramon watched as she tried to choose her words and debated with herself whether or not to say the,.

"Members of Cadmus will be there." She said in a very quiet voice. "They want 'Mr. Wayne' to donate some money to their program."

Realization sunk into his chest, and Ramon hugged her tighter. He knew how Athena felt about Cadmus, and she didn't want to have _anything _to do with them, even if it was simply standing in a room with them.

"Did you tell Bruce how you feel?" Ramon questioned, still keeping her in his hug. He felt Athena shake her head, no.

"I think you should. Bruce will probably understand why you're scared of them. I mean, they…" Ramon trailed off when he felt Athena shaking in his arms, and he noticed how his sleeve was getting wet.

Things clicked in Ramon's head, and he wanted to hold Athena tighter. He could just imagine what was going through her mind.

_What if they recognize me? What if they take me away from my home? What if they start to run experiments on me again? What if they want me dead? What if I go crazy? What if they really do turn me into a weapon? _

"It's okay, Athena." Ramon whispered, holding her as she sobbed. "Bruce should understand."

When the Gala came around and the many reporters asked where Bruce Wayne's newest adopted child was, they were told that she had a bad fever, and would be resting.

However, Athena was at Ramon's house, watching him paint the stars.


	25. Ralph

__**So i wanted to write the next super papa chapter but i wanted to study for my vocab. so combined the two! Please enjoy!**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

_"What the hell is wrong with you!? Your skin is supposed to be impervious to harm!" Dr. Milo yelled at the five-year-old. He had just got her from the Cadmus team in Germany and it was expected that the girl was mature enough to have developed her abilities. Milo was a __vituperative__ man. He looked weak, but he was _abusive _when he was angry. _

_ The small girl was sobbing, her arm covered in blood from where the bullet sank into her skin. _

_ She was a tyro to pain. She wasn't used to feeling it. _

_ "Dr. Milo… das… das tat weh…" Milo smacked the girl with the butt of the gun, making her whimper in more pain. _

_ "I know you know English. I don't want your broken German crap!" he exclaimed, angrily._

_ "Th-they… no… th-th-that. That… that… that…" she raked her mind, trying to remember the word. She was given a crash course lesson in English, but she couldn't remember it all. She was still having trouble with translating things from Japanese to German. Now she had to deal with Japanese to German to English. _

_ "That… That…"Milo slapped her face._

_ "That what? Spit it out!"_

_ "That…. That…" the girl's eyes watered. She saw Milo reel his hand back and smack her again. _

_ "Just say it!"_

_ "I do…. Do…. No…. I do no…" she faltered. She couldn't remember any words to finish her sentence. She didn't know how to tell him that she didn't remember how to say the phrase, 'That hurts.' _

_ Milo started hitting her. His snacks were __unremitting__, and the girl continued to sob. _

_ "STOP!" she remembered that word. "Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!" _

_ Milo acquiesced to the girl's plea, and stopped hitting her. _

_ "You are Project Power. You will deflect this bullet. Understood?" He growled, raising the gun to shoot her other arm. _

_ "P-please… please do… do… please do no…"she wasn't able to speak as she felt the bullet sink into her skin, and she screamed in pain. _

_ Milo was not one to __vacillate__ from his idea. Project Power would reap results. He just needed to find a way to _make _the girl develop her abilities._

_~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~_

_ The girl became very __chary__ in the following weeks. Especially when a guard came by. She associated guards with pain. Every time a guard came by, they usually came to escort her out of her room to one of the labs where she would have tests ran on her. _

_ She tried her hardest to seem __imperturbable __because that was what Milo wanted. Milo wanted her to be a calm good little girl. However, her fears grew and she was terrified. She missed the Cadmus labs in Japan. At least in Japan they treated her like a human being. Even in Germany she was treated with some care. But here, she was just a 'thing'. _

_ Once again, guards appeared at her door to bring her to a testing room. _

_ The girl stood to her feet and shakily walked toward the two men. _

_ It was __mandated __that the guards didn't speak to the girl unless it was absolutely necessary. However, the guards didn't need to talk to her in order to scare her._

_ "I saw Milo getting a lot of knives prepped for the room." One of the guards said to the other._

_ "Yeah, me too." The other nodded. "Must've been about a dozen of really sharp knives." _

_ "What do you think he's going to do with them?" the other guard inquired, and smirked when the girl looked even more terrified. _

_ "I don't know, but whatever he's going to cut up will probably be in a _lot _of pain." The guard nodded, and both men chuckled at how the girl was shaking so hard. _

_ When she entered the room, she saw a pile of sharp knives on a tray, __refulgent__ in the lab lighting. The room was __redolent__ with the smell of cleaning alcohol. _

_ The girl broke down with a __paroxysm __of sobs. She was so scared she couldn't hide it, and she sobbed and shook, and wet herself slightly. The guards lifted her from her position on the ground, and strapped her to the table as Milo __calumniated__ that she was only crying to get out of the experiment and it was all an act. _

_ The guards showed a __paltry __amount of pity. All except one of the older guards who cringed every time the girl screamed._

_~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~_

_ The girl whimpered when a guard appeared in the doorway to her living space. He stepped inside the room, and looked at her with his deep brown eyes. _

_ He took off his helmet, placing it on the ground as he sat on one of the chairs. _

_ "Hello." He said in a gentle voice. The girl was surprised that the man spoke to her so kindly, and also that he took his helmet off. He had graying black hair, and his dark brown skin had several wrinkles. _

_ "H-hello." The girl stuttered, waiting for something bad to happen._

_ "My name is Ralph." He informed._

_~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~_

_ Ralph was a __dilettante __at being a father, never having any children of his own, but he was very kind to the girl. He had a __collusion __with the girl that he was just guarding her because he thought she was dangerous. In reality, he saw how lonely and scared the girl was, and just wanted to help her. _

_ Every time he entered the room, the girl wanted to give an __acclamation__, but smiled softly, knowing that she acted too happy to see him, he might be taken away. _

_ Ralph would sneak her in books, and taught her how to better understand English. She did improve in her comprehension of the language, but she still found it hard to speak at times. _

_ She was happy to read the books about heroes going on a __peregrination__to other lands, and __bucolic __country sides. _

_One day, Ralph brought the girl a Teddy Bear. It was simple, but the man figured she needed a friend when he couldn't be there._

_ Unfortunately, due to a guard known for his__ pedantry__, Ralph was "told on" and Milo quickly had the man fired. _

_ The girl never had a chance to say Good bye. _

_ Milo wouldn't let the girl have an __incremen__t __of happiness, and told the guards to take the teddy bear away. _

_ However, the girl held onto the toy and curled around it into a small ball. The guards would kick and jab at her, trying to make her release the animal, but she was unrelenting and screamed as loud as she could._

_ Finally, Milo sighed and told the guards that there was no harm in letting her keep the toy. He figured that one plushy wouldn't make a difference to the girl. _

_ "Ralph, when are you going to come back?" she questioned once she was alone, staring at the bear._

_ Tears welled up in her eyes and she cried, hugging the toy. Ralph was her only friend, and he was gone._

~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~L~(these are page breaks)

Athena sighed as she stared at the essay question.

**What was your favorite childhood memory. **

There was always the childhood she had after Conner and the rest of the team took her out of Cadmus, but she couldn't help but thinking about her earliest memories.

She sighed, and ended up writing a paper about her best friend Ralph. She was only in sixth grade and she already hated writing essays.

The class ended and she walked to lunch, joining Ramon and Paige at a lunch table.

"Y'know, we're getting a new principal today." Ramon informed.

"Yeah, because the last one was so creepy. He molested Sarah Sterns. Can you believe that? What a creep. If he tried anything funny with me, I'd whack him really hard. Good thing he's out of the school and we have this Mr. Jones guy. Man. If he's a creepy molester, than I am going to completely lose faith in the Gotham School System." Paige rattled on.

"So we got a new principal named Mr. Jones?" Athena questioned, and Ramon nodded.

"Yup. There's gonna be an assembly where he's gonna introduce himself. Weren't you paying attention to the announcements?"

"Um… not really." Athena said with a weak smile. She was zoned out thinking about music at the time.

"You're so silly, 'Thena." Paige giggled, and they continued to eat their lunch until it was time for them to head to the assembly.

They all took their seats in the auditorium, when an African American man with completely gray hair stood in front of the student body.

"Hello, my name is Mr. Jones, and I will be the new principal for Winick Middle School." He informed.

Athena's eyes widened as she stared at the man, and listened to his voice.

"Oh my god." She whispered. She watched as he spoke about what he would and would not tolerate in the school, and he sounded like a great principal.

After the assembly was over, Athena went straight to the office.

"Excuse me, may I speak with the principal please?" she questioned, and the secretary nodded as she paged Mr. Jones that a student wanted to see him.

She walked into his office, and stared at him, still in shock.

"Hello, can you tell me your name? I want to be able to know all my students." He smiled kindly.

"A-Athena." the girl stuttered. "Athena Laurel Prince." She stated.

"And what can I do for you today, Ms. Prince? Is there a problem?" Athena's eyes got blurry and tears streaked her face.

"Athena?" the girl looked up, holding the contacts that fell out of her eyes due to her tears.

"Ralph… I missed you." The man's eyes widened in surprise.

"Project Power?" he whispered.

"It's Athena now." She said with a small smile. Ralph walked over to the girl and gave her a strong hug.

"You got out of there. I am so happy for you, Athena." he said with a broad smile. "I was so worried what would happen to you after I was fired."

The two talked and caught up each other on their lives. After he was fired, Ralph became a teacher and quickly was able to become a principal. He never did marry, but he was great with kids, and he adopted a kitten, which he named Power.

Athena placed her contacts back in and smiled at the man.

"Good luck with this principal job." The man smiled back at her.

"Good luck with your abilities, Athena."

The girl visited the principal as often as she could.

Athena was happy to finally see Ralph again. And when she graduated middle school, she could also had her chance to say Good bye.


	26. Haunted House

Athena clutched onto Dick's hand tightly as they waited in line. Her cheeks were a rosy red and she could see her breath every time she breathed out. It was very cold for October.

She could hear high pitched screams and chainsaw sounds coming from the house her and Dick were waiting in line for.

"Nii-san… I'm not sure about this. People are screaming in there." Athena whispered, but Dick smiled at her.

"It's fine, Athena. It's a haunted house because you're supposed to be scared. They're just people who are going to scare you, but they won't hurt you."

"They won't hurt me?"

"Nope. Just scare you, but it's only for laughs." Athena was confused by the concept. Why would someone want to purposely be scared, but then laugh about it afterwards?

Dick and Athena finally were near the front and put into a group with two more people. They were two teenagers. One was a really skinny lanky boy with shaggy brown hair that bangs stopped at his eyebrows and the rest stopped about the middle of his neck. His skin was pale and for the cold weather he was only wearing a light sweatshirt. The other was a girl who had more meat on her bones, but was shorter than the boy. Her skin was darker, and her curly hair was hidden under a brown fuzzy hat with ear flaps.

She looked nervous while the boy seemed excited about the house.

"I haven't been in one of these things since I was about nine, and I was on the verge of tears." The girl informed, glaring at the boy.

"Don't worry. It will be awesome, and I'll just be by your side the entire time. Or maybe I might ever be in front of you." The boy smiled.

When the two noticed they would be with Dick and Athena, they started chatting with them.

"My name's Olivia." The girl with the hat smiled.

"Tanis." The other boy nodded with a grin.

"Is this your first time being in a haunted house?" Olivia inquired, looking at Athena. the girl nodded.

"Don't worry about it. It's just for fun and the actors can't hurt you." Tanis shrugged.

A woman with a white powdered face and dark make up walked out in an old maid outfit splattered with blood.

"Are you ready to enter our hotel?" she questioned.

"heck yeah." Tanis smiled.

"Yeah!" Dick exclaimed. Olivia and Athena were silent.

The woman led them to the door and Athena took in a deep breath.

_It's going to be okay. Everything here is made up. I'll be okay. _She told herself, and found herself slightly comforted.

The old house creaked, and the woman disappeared, letting them roam the house on their own.

Tanis and Olivia took the lead, or rather, Olivia took the lead after Tanis' happy and brave mood turned cowardly. However, Athena noticed as Olivia placed her hand on Tanis' back and pushed him forward with her, refusing to let him hide behind her.

The house continued to creak and then the group stepped into a pitch black hallway with a strobe light and rats hung from the ceiling.

So far, Athena wasn't too afraid, but Dick was getting jumpy, Olivia was looking nervous, and Tanis was mumbling,

"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god."

However, at the end of the hallway, someone slammed their body against a closed door. Athena jumped a bit, but Dick and Tanis let out high pitched simultaneous screams.

"I thought you said you wanted to be in front." Olivia grumbled as they moved forward, but Tanis shook his head.

"No I didn't."

Dick screamed as one of the actors snuck up behind him and breathed in his ear. Olivia let out a small squeak when an actor jumped out in front of her and Tanis.

However, they were all actors who wouldn't hurt them, so Athena saw no reason in being scared.

However, they then got to a room with a woman chained to a metal slab and a man stabbing her with blood squirting.

Athena couldn't look at it, and she felt scared. But she was shrieking or jumping. She buried her head into Dick's leg and clutched his hand tightly.

Olivia was leading the group now, with Tanis holding onto the back of her jacket tightly. However, the section with the people being :experimented on didn't seem to end, and limbs were strewn across the room along with blood, and nurses and doctors would burst out of shadowed corners. One of the actors questioned,

"Why don't you stay?"

"NO!" Athena shouted, tears streaking her face, and Dick realized that this wasn't good. He didn't think how the hospital/experiment section would affect the girl.

Dick lifted her up and let Athena burry her face into Dick's chest.

The actors noticed the crying girl so focused all their scaring on Olivia and Tanis.

When they exited the house, Olivia smiled at herself, proud, but then looked at Tanis and started laughing.

"You are such a baby! You were clutching onto my coat like it was going to be the only thing to save your life or something!" she laughed.

"Shut up." Tanis grumbled. They turned around to see Dick and Athena.

"Is she okay?" Olivia questioned with concern, looking at the girl.

"She'll be fun. Some of the stuff just unnerved her." Dick informed.

"Well, it was gory." Tanis shrugged.

"It was nice meeting you two, and I hope Athena feels better." Olivia smiled, then turned to Tanis.

"Come on, wimp. Let's get some popcorn."

Dick walked, holding Athena in his arms feeling guilty.

"I'm sorry for that, Athena. It was supposed to be fun. It wasn't supposed to scare you like that." Dick explained.

"It's okay." Athena whispered. Dick ruffled her hair and smiled at her.

"Alright, let's carve some pumpkins, alright?" he let the girl down and she held his hand.

"Why carve pumpkins?" Athena inquired.

"Because it's fun!" Dick laughed. Athena wasn't sure where she stood on Halloween, but once she was carving pumpkins with Dick, she supposed that the holiday wasn't all bad.


	27. Thanksgiving

**Sorry for the cheesyness of this chapter**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

"I don't understand… why are we eating when we are just supposed to be thankful?" Athena questioned, and Ray shrugged.

"I dunno. It's a tradition that everyone does." He informed. Many people in her family were off planet for Thanksgiving, so Mrs. Colón told her that she could spend her first Thanksgiving with their family.

Athena was sitting in Ramon's room, watching him draw a picture of a grassy plain.

"So you celebrate it with your family?"

"Yep. My dad's family comes over." Ramon nodded.

"What about your mom's family?" Ramon's hand holding the colored pencil froze for a moment, but then resumed.

"We don't talk about them." He whispered. "Anyway, the only family from my Dad's side that comes over is my Titi Norma, Tio José, and my Abuela. It's not really that big, but we have a fun time." Ramon grinned.

Just then there was a knock at the door, and Ramon smiled.

"That's probably them now." He ran downstairs with Athena following behind.

Indira opened the door to reveal a short but fit woman who looked a bit older than Ramon's mom, and next to her was a young man who looked as thin as Ramon. Behind them was a short old woman with a cane.

They were talking fast in Spanish as they hugged and kissed Indira, then moved on to shower their affections onto Ramon.

Athena stood there, unsure what to do.

"Ramon, who is this?" the woman who Athena assumed was Ramon's Titi Norma, inquired.

"This is my friend, Athena. she'll be having dinner with us." He grinned. Ramon's Abuela hobbled over to Athena and smiled at her.

"She looks strong. Not like you." She laughed as she pinched Ramon's thin arm.

"I gained two pounds." Ramon muttered.

"Two pounds, he says." José laughed. "You don't need meat on your bones. Just look at me. I'm thin and I'm fine." he smiled.

"Don't scare the boy. No one would ever want to look like you." Norma laughed.

"Aw, you hurt my feelings." José chuckled as he frowned.

"Despite being scrawny, his face is very much Rob's." Norma pointed out.

"Yes." Abuela nodded, and it was quiet for a moment. This was the fifth thanksgiving without Ramon's father.

Athena observed that Ramon's father was _very _well loved. His brother and sister, Norma and José, talked about what silly trouble they would get into all the time, and Abuela had a look of fondness on her face when he son's name was brought up.

Athena felt bad for Mrs. Colón when her husband's name was brought up. She became more quiet and her eyes got slightly red.

Ramon once told Athena that after his dad died, his Titi Norma had to look after him for a few months because of how hard Indira was impacted.

"Dinner is ready." Indira stated, and the family made their way to the table.

They all clasped their hands to say grace, and Athena imitated the move, eating dinner with Ramon enough times to know what saying grace was.

Ramon said grace, then afterwards the family started talking.

"Give Ramon the most meat, Indi! Build his strength!" Abuela exclaimed.

"Ma, make sure Indi leaves some of the turkey for the rest of us." José whined.

"Don't forget about Ramon's girlfriend." Norma smiled, and Ramon's face got beat red.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Él la ama." Norma chuckled which made the rest of the table laugh.

"Definitivamente lo ama."

"Deben casarse."

"Ellos serían tan monos juntos."

"Mi hijo debe casarse con ella. Sería maravilloso."

"¡Mamá! Usted es embarazoso mí."

"Calma, Ramon."

Athena watched as the family interacted, but didn't understand much of what was being said. The family was laughing while Ramon looked embarrassed.

"We're only teasing, Ramon." Norma grinned.

"Yes. We tease you because we love you." Abuela nodded.

"I wished you loved me less." Ramon grumbled, which made the table laugh again.

The dinner was passed out and Athena enjoyed the turkey and cranberry sauce.

"Athena, how did you meet, Ramon?" Norma inquired.

"Oh, well… we were at a museum thing, and he helped me out with something, and then we've been friends ever since." She explained.

"Do you have any hobbies?" José questioned.

"Well… I like listening to music."

"She can sing really good too." Ramon smiled, and Athena's face got red.

"N-no. I'm not very good at singing." She debated, but Ramon shook his head.

"She's lying. She has a beautiful voice." Ramon grinned.

"Guarde esto, Ramon, y ella será su esposa en seguida." José chuckled.

"Tio José…"

"Don't whine, Ramon." Indira stated calmly.

Athena could tell the difference between Ramon's mom and the rest of the family. Indira was funny but she was often quieter than her husband's side of the family. It made Athena wonder what Indira's family was like.

After the dinner was over, Indira started passing out sheets of music.

"What's this for?" Athena inquired, and Ramon smiled.

"It's a tradition we have. Since thanksgiving dinner is done, we sing Christmas Carols." Ramon explained.

"Carols?"

"Yeah." Ramon smiled, but was met by a confused stare by Athena.

"You mean… you don't know Christmas carols?" Athena shook her head, but the family was ready to sing.

"we should sing Silent Night!" Norma exclaimed.

"No, Jingle Bells!" José stated.

"Settle down you two, you know we should sing _Away in a Manger_."

"I like Rudolph." Ramon smiled, but his request didn't seem to be heard.

"We should let the newest addition to our family pick the first song." Indira smiled, and Athena's eyes widened.

"Me?"

"Yes, what song do you want to sing first?" Athena shifted through the music, looking for something remotely familiar. Her eyes then settled on a song she heard Elvis sing.

"Blue Christmas?" she suggested.

It was quiet for a long moment and Athena thought that she might have done something wrong.

"D-Do you want me to pick a different song?"

"No." Abuela shook her head. "It's just… that was Robert's favorite song." She informed. "None of us have had the guts to try to sing it after he passed."

"We should sing it." Indira stated. "It was Athena's choice, and Robert would want us to sing it."

The family flipped to the page in the song book and started singing.

Halfway through the song, Indira was softly crying while the rest of the family was tearing up. However, at the end of the song, they all smiled.

"We should have sung that song earlier." José stated.

"Remember how Robert used to sing the song so loud and off key?" Norma questioned which resulted in more talking about memories.

Ramon looked over at Athena and gripped her hand, smiling at her.

"Thanks, Athena." he grinned. "Happy thanksgiving."

"Happy thanksgiving."


	28. Never ending Friendship

**Snowy wanted a story where Athena and Ramon timetravel and meet their future selves. I'm not the best at doing those, and i wasn't sure how i would be able to write it well, so i ended up writing this instead.**

**This chapter is dedicated to snowy for giving me the idea. thank you! :D**

**Please enjoy**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Athena sat next to Ramon as he drew on his paper. She was happy to be sitting next to him, but something was on her mind that was worrying her.

"What is it?" Ramon inquired, recognizing the distressed look on his friends face.

"Some people warned me that friendships don't last forever, and that some friends drift apart." She whispered. "I don't want us to not be friends anymore one day."

Ramon gave her a comforting smile.

"We'll never drift apart. You hold my hand too much for that to happen." He chuckled. Athena chuckled as well, but still looked a bit worried.

"Here." Ramon stood up and walked over to his closet and pulled out a shoebox.

"What are we supposed to do with a shoebox?" Athena inquired.

"We'll put stuff in it that reminds us why we're god friends. Then, if there's ever a day when we feel like we're drifting apart, we can look through this box and remember why we're friends." Ramon smiled, and Athena smiled back.

"What should we put in it first?"

~*~*~*~*~*~Sixteen Years Later~*~*~*~*~*~

Ramon sat on the bed with the shoebox on his lap, a small smile perched on his lips. Just then he heard the window open and Athena floated into the room, dressed as Power Girl.

"You should be asleep. It's late." Athena frowned.

"I can't sleep much when you're out. I just get worried." He informed, and Athena kissed his forehead.

"No need to be worried, Ramon. I know how to take care of myself." Athena stated, but then frowned for a moment. "Can you help me with the zipper?" She inquired, and Ramon smiled as he stood from the bedside and unzipped her costume.

"Thanks, Ramon." She peeled off the costume and went to throw on her nightshirt. As she made her way towards the bed, she saw the old shoebox.

"What's that?" she inquired.

"You forget, amor?" Ramon questioned, but smiled at her. "It's our memory box."

"You kept that? We filled up that box _years _ago." She sat next to Ramon, looking at the box.

"Of course I kept it." Ramon chuckled. "We never needed to open it though."

"Of course not. We never drifted apart."

"It's because you would never let go of my hand." He informed with a smirk as he looked down at their currently clasped hands.

Athena giggled, but then looked at the box again.

"Do you even remember what we put in there?" she inquired, and Ramon shook his head.

"Nope. But we could find out now." He grinned. The two put their hands on the box and slowly lifted the lid.

There was a picture of a rainbow inside and Athena chuckled.

"I remember this. I never saw one before and after we saw one together, you decided to draw a picture for me." she smiled. The next item they pulled out was a newspaper clipping that was an Ad for the Science and History Museum event that invited younger kids to join for some fun and games.

"We met here." Ramon smiled, and Athena nodded.

"Yes. And you wore those big circular glasses." She laughed as she pulled out said glasses.

"Man, I can't believe my mom let me leave the house with these things." He chuckled.

"Speaking of your Mom, here's the recipe to her rice and beans." Athena stated, and Ramon nodded.

"Yeah, because you loved it so much." He then took out a lollipop and a bag of skittles. "And we used to buy these all the time at the candy shop." Ramon smiled.

"What's this?" Athena inquired, holding up what looked like a crumpled bullet.

"It's one of the bullets that hit you when I found out about your Super powers." He informed.

"You actually _kept _one?" Athena questioned, shocked.

"Yup." Ramon nodded proudly.

They continued to go through the box. A bag of chips Ramon had when he was waiting for Athena to get better in the hospital. A small comic book that the two would read together. The lyrics to _Bridge over Troubled Water_. An Elvis CD. A picture Ramon drew of Puerto Rico.

Finally the two got to the bottom of the box, where there was a picture of the two of them.

Athena was holding Ramon's hand. She was a good inch or two taller than him and Ramon was _very _thin.

Nothing much had changed besides the fact that Athena was now four inches taller than Ramon.

On the back of the picture was Ramon's handwriting.

_Dear Future Ramon and Athena,_

_ Don't ever stop being friends. No matter what happened nothing can change how much we are good friends. We'll be there for each other until the end. We promise! _

_Sincerely,_

_ Ramon and Athena_

Athena chuckled.

"We were really close back then." She stated.

"Of course we were." Ramon laughed as he placed the shoebox onto the night table, then turned to look at Athena.

"I'm thankful I met you. I can't imagine my life without you, amor." Ramon stated seriously.

"Me neither, Ramon." Athena leaned in to kiss him, but he stopped her for a moment.

"There's one more thing in the box." He stated. "But I have to admit, it was just recently added. Ramon pulled out a small black box.

Athena looked at him confused, and Ramon knelt onto one knee. Athena's eyes widened and her grip on his hand tightened.

"Athena, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He kissed her hand, and Athena's grip didn't let go of his hand.

Ramon flipped the box top off, not letting go of Athena's hand. There was a ring in the box.

"Will you marry me?" he inquired, and Athena's eyes watered.

"Yes!" she exclaimed and she started floating. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" she exclaimed, hugging Ramon tightly, bringing him up into the air with her.

Ramon kissed Athena while he slipped the ring onto her finger.

They held hands like they always had. And they refused to let go.


	29. Catwoman

**Sorry for not updating for awhile. I got some writers block.**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Athena stood on the rooftop of Ramon's house, looking out at Gotham city. Ramon was downstairs asleep. She was staying in the guest room at his house while the League was on a mission.

When Athena couldn't sleep, she liked going on the roof and relaxing. She and Ramon would sit together on the rooftop all the time and talk about the stars that they couldn't see due to the smog. She also sang when Ramon drew on the roof as well.

The roof had a calming effect on Athena. She could never explain why the roof had that effect on her.

A guest of wind pushed her black hair into her face, but she wasn't irritated by the action. Athena simply giggled and pushed her hair back into place. She figured she could be out of disguise since she was on the rooftop at night. It wasn't like someone was going to see her.

Athena was just about to head back inside when she heard something out of the ordinary. It sounded like an engine and somebody running on the rooftop. And the sound was getting closer and closer to her.

Athena looked to her right to see a woman dressed all in black with a man flying after her wearing a grey suit with a jetpack.

She recognized the two as Catwoman and Firefly

The rest happened so fast that Athena couldn't process it. Her image blurred, she felt pressure on her shoulder. Something hard was pressed up against her head. She couldn't feel the ground beneath her feet.

"Hand the cash over, and the girl won't get hurt." Firefly stated in a threatening tone as he pressed the barrel to his flame thrower harder against Athena's head, trying to get the girl to whimper. However, she didn't make a noise.

Firefly had a strong grip on Athena, and was hovering over the roof with the girl in his arms.

Catwoman looked at the Athena, then at Firefly.

"Do you really want to be responsible for letting a little girl die?" Firefly questioned and Catwoman started to drop the bag that was slung around her shoulder, full of cash.

"The bag's all yours. Let her go." Catwoman stated.

Athena was surprised by the villain's kindness. She thought all bad guys were supposed to only care about themselves. However, Catwoman was willing to keep her out of danger.

Before Firefly could make any move toward the bag, Athena elbowed him harshly in the gut, knocking the air out of him. He dropped Athena onto the roof as he curled over, clutching his stomach. With Athena's strength it felt like he had been hit by a small truck.

Athena wasn't quite done with Firefly when she touched the rooftop. She grabbed his foot, dragging him down, and punched him in the face. She was holding back her Super strength, but it was still a hard punch that connected with the man's jaw, knocking him out.

She tried to focus on not letting herself get too excited, knowing that if she did, her hearing might become sensitive.

However, she did get an adrenaline rush when she was fighting. And she loved it.

"Wow. What kind of karate have you been taking, Kitten?" Athena turned around to see Catwoman with an approving smile on her lips.

"Um…" Athena's adrenaline rush was gone, and she was suddenly conscious with the fact that she wasn't supposed to be seen by people while out of disguise. Her panic rose as she couldn't think of anything to say to the woman. "I…" she then blurted out what was on her mind. "You're not supposed to see me like this." Catwoman cocked her head to the side.

"Now, why's that, Kitten?"

"It's just… I…"

"Athena!" it was Ramon's voice from his house. "Athena, are you up on the roof?"

"Sounds like your friend's calling." Catwoman informed as she picked up her bag. "I'll talk to you later." With that, she was running off.

Athena sighed, and ran back to Ramon's house.

"Sorry Ramon. I just got distracted on the roof." Athena apologized, however, her mind was more on Catwoman than Ramon.

_What did she mean 'talk to you later'? Am I going to see her again? _

~*~*~*~*~*~Several weeks later~*~*~*~*~*~

The contact with Catwoman was the last thing on Athena's mind. Instead, the Wayne Gala was the first thing on her mind. No Cadmus people or Lex Luthor or anybody else that Athena knew of would be attending.

But Athena knew that there were going to be reporters pestering her and old ladies pinching her cheeks. She could only find comfort in the fact that Bruce and Dick had to suffer with her.

However, Bruce didn't seem like he disliked the Gala, and Dick actually seemed to ham it up, so Athena didn't think they were suffering quite as much as her.

Alfred had put her into a blue long sleeved dress and had done up her short curly brown wig to look fancier.

She was hot and itching all over. The dress was itchy, the wig was itchy, her eyes were slightly irritated due to her newer brown contacts, and the entire building was hot.

"How is it living in Wayne Manor?" the reporter, Vikki Vale, inquired.

"It's wonderful. Can you please stop asking me questions?"

"People on the streets say that they think they see you with a boy your age who looks Mexican. Is he a friend of yours."

_He's Puerto Rican and it's none of your business! _Athena thought, but she tried not to lose her temper.

"No comment." She stated, and walked away from the reporter. She was hoping to find Dick through the mob of people. When he wasn't chatting it up with younger women who swooned over him, he talked to Athena so she didn't feel so lonely and out of place.

"Hello Kitten." Athena froze in her place. That voice was familiar. She looked up to see a woman with short jet black hair and piercing green eyes. She was gorgeous.

And matching the voice with the woman's body, there was no doubt that she was Catwoman.

"H-hello." Athena stuttered.

"My name is Selina Kyle."

"Hello Ms. Kyle. My name is Athena." the girl stated, trying to sound professional.

"Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you in the Newspapers." Selina informed as she directed the younger girl into a less crowded area. "Tell me, Athena, do you enjoy sitting on rooftops." Athena didn't say anything, but the silence answered Selina's question. "You have a little secret, don't you?"

"Don't you have a secret too?" Athena questioned, and Catwoman shrugged.

"Most people know who Catwoman is. I'm just out on good behavior." She smirked. "So, what's with the…" Selina tugged on her own hair.

"I can't tell you." Athena informed honestly, but her hands were shaking. Selina noticed how nervous Athena looked and her face softened.

"Kitten, do you really think that I'm going to try to expose you for looking different and hanging out on rooftops?" Selina questioned in a low voice. Once again, Athena was silent.

"You _helped _me. I don't show spite to people who do me favors." She smiled a genuine smile at Athena, and the girl couldn't help but return it.

"Ms. Kyle." Selina looked up and there stood Bruce Wayne. He didn't want to sound rude while fronting his playboy persona, but he was immediately concerned for Athena when he saw her talking to the woman.

"I see you have met the newest addition to my family." Bruce nodded. Athena looked up at Selina, anxious to see what would happen. Athena knew that if Selina hinted at seeing her out of disguise, she'd be in trouble with Bruce.

"Yes. She's a charming little girl." Selina nodded. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that she was your actual daughter." She added with a smile, then looked over at Athena. "I'll talk to you some other time, Kitten."

With that, Selina walked off to mingle with some other people.

"Are you alright?" Bruce inquired, and Athena nodded.

"Yes. I'm fine."

"What did she say to you?"

"She…"

"Brucie!" a high shrill voice screeched and some single woman was hanging over Bruce Wayne, and the matter was dropped.

Dick spotted Athena, and quickly was at her side, directing her away from Bruce as he tried to sweet talk the woman hanging all over him.

"Hey, Athena, let's see what type of finger food Alfred has going around." he grinned, and the two walked off to find Alfred.

~*~*~*~*~*~Later~*~*~*~*~*~

"So you met _the _Catwoman?" Ramon questioned, and Athena nodded.

"Yeah. She seemed pretty nice, but she saw me as… _me_. She saw what I look like." Athena said in a whisper.

"Did she threaten to tell anyone?"

"Well… no. She actually said she wouldn't."

"Then I wouldn't worry. Selina's a nice woman." Athena raised an eyebrow.

"Have you ever met her?"

"Well… she and my mom are sorta friends."

"Friends?"

"Yeah. I dunno how it happened, but my Mom and Selina are good friends. She has dinner with us sometimes."

Athena felt a bit more at ease. Friends of Ramon were definitely friends of hers. However, Athena always wondered how Ramon's mom and Catwoman became friends.


	30. Christmas

**HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

"So… why are we doing this?" Athena inquired as she wrapped vibrant colorful lights around a big Blue Spruce tree.

"It's a tradition to decorate the Christmas tree." Dick informed happily.

"But why?" Athena questioned with puzzlement. "I don't understand the point in making a tree colorful."

"I don't really know." Dick frowned for a moment, then shrugged, his smile returning. "But it's fun."

"I guess so." Athena smiled. She continued to string up lights while Dick started to hang up the ornaments.

"So, are you and Ramon gonna hang out on Christmas Eve or Christmas? You said you had fun with him and his family during thanksgiving." Dick questioned, but Athena shook her head.

"Ramon's going to Puerto Rico to celebrate with his family. He's going to stay there for a while because he doesn't just celebrate Christmas, but he also celebrates Three Kings Day, and that lasts until January 6th." Athena informed.

"Three Kings Day?"

"Yes. He's excited. He says that he loves going to Puerto Rico and eating and exchanging presents." Athena grinned slightly. "He says that one day he wants to take me to Puerto Rico so I can see all of his family and the sites."

Dick smiled as he listened to Athena. He liked Ramon, and he enjoyed how the two had some fun together. He enjoyed seeing Athena happy, and when she was with Ramon, Athena was definitely happy.

"Why doesn't Bruce help decorate the tree?" Athena inquired, changing the subject, and Dick sighed.

"He's just busy."

Before Athena could say anything, Alfred walked into the room with two mugs of hot chocolate with peppermint sticks.

"Hot coco?" he offered the two, and Dick happily accepted his mug. Athena took hers as well, and sipped it, smiling.

"This is great."

"Of course it's great. It's the drink of Christmas! Well… besides eggnog that is." Dick grinned. Athena raised an eyebrow and looked at Dick curiously.

"Christmas has a drink?"

"Well… I guess."

"Why is Hot Chocolate and eggnog the drink of Christmas?" Athena inquired.

"I… I don't know." Dick frowned. "Hey Alfred…" however, the man was gone before he could ask his question.

"Christmas is so strange." Athena said, more to herself than to Dick. She then looked up at the man. "Why do people celebrate it?"

"Well, it's a Christian holiday. It celebrates the birth of Jesus."

"So… Christmas is like a Birthday?"

"Yes. And we give gifts because the wise men gave gifts to Jesus." Athena nodded at the information.

"Ramon prays to Jesus. I don't really know who he is though." Athena frowned. "Is that bad?"

"No, that's not bad." Dick grinned. "Jesus is the son of God."

"God?"

"Yeah. Well, he's the son of God in the Christian religion. But you don't have to be Christian to celebrate Christmas."

"Why is that?"

"… I don't know." Dick tried to think of a way to explain it. "Well, it's the season of giving. You can give presents wishing people a Merry Christmas and it doesn't matter if your Christian or not. It's about spreading Christmas cheer, and Christmas Spirit."

"Christmas cheer? Spirit?"

"It's…" Dick sighed. "It's hard to explain."

~*~*~*~*~*~Several Days Later~*~*~*~*~*~

Athena smiled as she curled the ribbon on the presents with the scissors. It made a short _scrreeeet _sound, and then a bouncy curl of red ribbon formed.

"I appreciate you helping me wrap presents." Alfred informed and Athena beamed happily at the man.

"I like wrapping presents. Thank you for teaching me how to." Athena smiled as she curled some more ribbon. She then looked at Alfred curiously.

"Why do we wrap presents on Christmas?"

"So it can be a surprise." Alfred answered. Athena then looked at the colors of the ribbons and wrapping paper.

"Why are the colors red and green used so much?" Alfred kept wrapping presents as he answered,

"I am honestly not sure." Athena nodded, making a mental note to look it up later.

"Does Bruce ever wrap presents?"

"Not usually." Alfred replied.

"How come?"

"He's often too busy." Before Athena could say anything else, Alfred stated, "Now, can you please leave the room? Your help was much appreciated, but I need to wrap _your _presents."

Athena smiled and nodded, skipping out of the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~Christmas Eve~*~*~*~*~*~

Athena, Cassie, Mal, Dick, Karen, and Conner ran around in the snow.

"Snow man building contest! Boys vs. Girls!" Cassie proclaimed. The two teams were feverishly trying to create a snow man.

The girls realized they had a disadvantage when they noticed Mal working faster than humanly possible.

The boy's snowman was finished quickly.

"What can I say? I'm a snowman building champ." Mal grinned proudly, but was rewarded by a snowball in the face thrown by Cassie.

The six broke out into a snow ball fight, and Athena giggled and she pegged Conner in the face with one.

She loved playing in the snow. She enjoyed sledding, making snow angels, snow ball fights, making snow men, ice skating, and everything else the snow entailed. However, she didn't enjoy how cold she was afterwards.

They headed back inside and were greeted by several members of the league.

Athena smiled at the sight of all of her parents. Well, all of her parents, except for Bruce.

"He said he was busy." Wonder Woman informed, and quickly hugged Athena.

The group exchanged presents and talked and laughed together. Athena smiled when she saw Karen and Mal kissing under the mistletoe. She didn't understand why people had to kiss when standing underneath a plant that grew poisonous berries, but Athena still thought it was sweet.

Athena felt a small warm fuzzy feeling growing in her chest. She could smell the peppermint from the candy canes, and the pine from the Christmas tree. She could hear the laughter from her friends and family and the Christmas carols playing in the background. She could taste the chocolate remaining in her mouth from eating the homemade cookies Clark brought over that Ma Kent made. She felt warm despite the lingering cold on her fingertips and nose from being outside.

_What is this feeling? _Athena wondered. _Is this the Christmas Cheer and Spirit Dick was talking about? _

Athena wasn't sure, but she was happy to have the feeling. However, she frowned slightly when she remembered Bruce wasn't there.

Conner noticed the sad look that graced her face, and lifted Athena up on his shoulders, making the girl smile again.

"I say, another round of hot chocolate." Conner smiled, and everyone laughed and cheered.

"Do people do this every Christmas Eve?" Athena inquired as Conner carried her into the kitchen to make some hot chocolate.

"Usually this is done on Christmas, but because the league has lots of family, we decided to get together Christmas Eve and save Christmas for family at home." Conner explained.

"So is Christmas usually spent like this? With family and friends?" Athena inquired.

"Yes. It's a time to spend with people you care about." He smiled. Athena smiled back and hugged Conner tightly, kissing him on the cheek.

"Merry Christmas, Conner." Athena grinned.

"Merry Christmas, Athena."

~*~*~*~*~*~Later that Night~*~*~*~*~*~

Bruce entered the Batcave and frowned when he noticed a small body curled up in his chair. It was Athena.

He lifted Athena up, out of the chair, and cradled her in his arms.

"She was waiting for you to get back." Alfred informed as he walked into the cave with a tray of tea.

"Why? She should be in bed." Bruce inquired as he wrapped his cape around the girl. The cave was cold and she had on thin pajamas.

"Because it's Christmas Eve, sir." Alfred informed. "And both Master Richard and Conner explained to her that Christmas is spent with family."

"I was going to spend some time with her tomorrow." Bruce informed as he headed upstairs, still with Athena in his arms.

"Yes, but most of her family visited today. I suppose she missed you when she was around everyone else."

Bruce looked down at Athena and felt her curl up more in his grasp.

"She's freezing." Bruce frowned, not wanting to talk about how he was too busy to attend the get together.

"Then perhaps you should put her to bed." Alfred informed.

Bruce nodded and carried the girl to her room and gently placed her in her bed.

"I missed you." Athena said sleepily. Her eyes were opened a crack, and she was staring up at Bruce.

"I missed you too." Bruce nodded.

"Merry Christmas, father." She mumbled, drifting off to sleep. Bruce kissed her forehead, and made sure the covers snugged comfortably around her.

"Merry Christmas, Athena."


End file.
